


Get Ready For The Lady (She’s Gonna Be A Treat)

by katling



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Civil War Team Iron Man, M/M, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Not Black Panther (2018) Compliant, Not Compliant With Anything After Civil War, Not Steve Friendly, but it's not permanent, not team Cap friendly, so don't panic, there is character death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2019-06-24 06:47:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15625056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katling/pseuds/katling
Summary: Time and Death are two things you can count on. Right? At least until Death starts meddling with time, I suppose. Then all bets are off.Things that happen in the future can change things that happen in the past. In the aftermath of the Civil War, Tony is going to find out just how true that is.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by Wix's _Whispers of the Fallen_ and I was a bit worried at first that they might be too much of the same thing but I think I can safely say now that Wix is going in one direction and I'm going in another.
> 
> The title comes from Alice Cooper's _Devil's Food_.

The thing is… Tony Stark should have died in Afghanistan. If the bomb didn’t kill him then having what was essentially open heart surgery in a cave without anaesthetic should have done it. Between the shock, the filthy conditions and just the surgery itself, there are a hundred things that could have… and perhaps should have… killed him. Getting water into an electromagnet wasn’t exactly fear of death free either. And crashing an experimental armour into the desert from a fairly decent height? Yeah, that should have done it as well.

Not that Afghanistan was the first place where Tony had shown a surprising lack of actual dying. There was the copious amounts of alcohol and drugs and general reckless behaviour after his parents and Edwin Jarvis died. That should probably have killed him several times over. Not to mention that car accident when he was twenty-five that he walked away from without a scratch, much to the shock and surprise of the police and paramedics who’d attended. All throughout his life, Death had shown a remarkable reluctance to claim him.

As he lay in the cold and dark of the bunker in Siberia, Tony wondered whether this was the time, whether this was the place and reason, that he would finally meet his maker. Not that he really believed in a maker but the phrase rolled off the tongue nicely. He could feel the way things were grating unpleasantly in his chest, bone against bone, in a way that shouldn’t be happening. He could feel the way his heart was labouring, the way his chest hurt like it was about to explode… or possibly implode, he couldn’t tell, and the way the cold seemed to creep in, inch by inch. He’d had some lucky escapes before, he’d even had some astonishingly unbelievable escapes before, but this… this seemed somewhat final.

As a darkness slowly crept over his vision and he felt an odd but not unpleasant numbness crawl over his body, he found himself not minding so much. Death didn’t seem that bad, almost pleasant even. As everything faded away into black, Tony gave in to it, gave in to death.

 

…only to wake up to bright lights, starchy sheets and the sound of machines beeping.

 

Tony sighed and forced his eyes open to the familiar sights of a hospital room. Even a well-appointed room in an expensive hospital (as this undoubtedly was) still had that depressing hospital smell and feel to it. And not even the nicest bed or carpet could disguise the machines.

“Ugh,” he said, letting his head sink back into the pillow, the question as to how and why he was alive fading from his mind as quickly as it always did.

“Tones?”

He rolled his head to one side and saw Rhodey sitting beside his bed in a wheelchair. It was a sharp and biting reminder that the shit show they’d survived had exacted a high price.

“Hey, platypus,” he said, grimacing at how hoarse his voice was. “How long?”

“Four days, you jackass,” Rhodey growled, though the tears in his eyes spoke a different story.

“Well, shit,” Tony said, levering himself into a slightly more upright position. 

Every part of him ached but his chest more than the rest. He looked down and then hooked a finger into the neck of the robe he was wearing. Looking down at his chest was a lot like when he woke up in Afghanistan, except without the actual arc reactor being there. There was a bandaged wrapped around his chest, mummy-style, but bruises leached out from both above and below the bandage.

“Ow,” he said reflectively. He was fairly sure things should be much, much worse. That was certainly what his memory told him and yet… all he could see was the bruises and all he could feel was the bone deep ache that those kinds of bruises tended to leave.

“Tones,” Rhodey said and the sober tone of his voice made Tony look over at him in surprise. “What happened?”

There was a momentary urge to be flippant, to blow off what had happened with a few jokes and try and forget it ever happened. To do damage control like he always did and paint everything in the best light he could. But another glance down at his chest and then one at Rhodey’s wheelchair and that urge died as quickly as it had arisen. 

None of this had been about the Accords, none of Steve’s actions had been about the Accords. He’d let himself get blinded to that. He should have realised right from the start that there was something more going on. Steve and Sam had objected too quickly. They hadn’t even pretended to read the Accords, they’d just rejected them out of hand. He should have realised something was wrong back then. Maybe if he had, if he’d done a few hours of digging instead of running around like a headless chicken, trying to stem the flow of metaphorical blood from the myriad number of wounds Steve kept causing, he might have realised that this had never been about the Accords.

It had always, _always_ , been about Barnes.

He wondered how long Steve had known about Barnes’ involvement in the deaths of his parents. His guess was since SHIELD had fallen since that was when the Winter Soldier had made his appearance on the scene. No wonder Steve had turned on him. They’d never been the best of friends but there had been something there, after New York, something that Tony had hoped would turn into friendship, had even thought it had for a while. But after DC, Steve had been… distant. Not obviously but the distance had been there.

Was that why Steve had turned on him during the Ultron affair? Why he’d been so willing to believe Wanda and turn Tony into the bad guy? Had it been less because he truly believed that but because it gave him a way of shoving an irretrievable wedge between Tony and the rest of the team, sufficient that Tony actually followed through on his idle thought of stepping back to get a handle on his PTSD? (Not that it had helped, he’d just ended up with a whole new plateful of PTSD.) A means to ensure that Tony was out of the way but still paying for everything?

Is that why Steve had forced Wanda down everyone’s throats, even though it cost him his two heaviest hitters on the field? Because if he could gloss over Wanda’s background and get everyone to buy it, if he could get people to accept a willing HYDRA volunteer as a redeemed Avenger, then he’d have no trouble convincing everyone about his BFF, who had been an _unwilling_ HYDRA _victim_?

And given how things went down in DC, did that mean Natasha had also known about Barnes and his parents’ murders?

Once he would have tried to put the best light on all of that, tried to convince himself that he was reading too much into it, that Steve was a good man. Now, he knew better.

Steve was just a man. With all that entailed, good, bad and ugly.

Unfortunately, Steve hadn’t gotten that memo and when his bad and ugly raised its head, he didn’t allow himself to recognise it and it was amazing how many _other_ people got hurt or killed by it.

So, once upon a time… Tony would have brushed this off, made flippant remarks, swallowed his pride and smoothed things over at his own expense but not anymore. Some things just couldn’t be brushed under the carpet. 

With that in mind, he turned to Rhodey and told him everything. From the immediate aftermath of Rhodey’s fall at the airport to the final moments in the bunker in Siberia before he blacked out. He let Rhodey curse and rail at Steve and the others then, when his friend fell silent, he looked him in the eye.

“We’re going to make things better, sugarplum.”

Rhodey froze for a moment because he’d seen this Tony Stark before but not for years. “How?”

“The Avengers have shattered but they can be put back together again,” he said. “ _We’ll_ put them back together again. I have some things you should look at.”

Rhodey stared at him for a long, long moment then he nodded, a slow smile growing on his face. “Yeah. Okay. Let’s do this.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, we know what's happened with Tony, now let's see what's going on in Kamar Taj.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I finally managed to bash out the chapter that's been in my head since I read Chapter 12 of Wix's Whispers of the Fallen, I decided to celebrate by giving you the second chapter of this fic. This chapter is not the chapter I bashed out today. That one comes later.

Stephen Strange stood in the doorway of the room that held the Eye of Agamotto with Wong and Mordo flanking him as they watched the Ancient One circle the Eye’s plinth curiously. The Eye was open and pulsing green in a way that even the Ancient One had admitted she’d never seen before. They’d all been woken that morning by the oddest feeling, as though the entire universe had lurched six feet to the left. Even as he stood here right now, that odd feeling hadn’t left Stephen and he felt sure that something was terribly wrong. A glance at Wong showed him that the taciturn librarian felt the same but neither Mordo nor the Ancient One seemed affected. The Cloak snugged him comfortingly and he found himself rather absurdly grateful for it.

In the room, the Ancient One came to a halt behind the plinth and reached out to take the Eye. The green pulsed dangerously and a little flicker of light lashed out at her hands. She withdrew them hurriedly and eyed the jewel again, her curiosity intensifying.

“Hmm,” she said contemplatively then she looked over at Stephen. “Come here, Stephen. Please take the Eye.”

Stephen hesitated for a moment then a nudge from Wong got him moving. He walked over to the plinth warily and glanced at the Ancient One.

“I think…” he began but he got no further in the face of the Ancient One’s expression, which was telling him everything he ever wanted to know about what she thought about him thinking right then.

He sighed and reached out. The Eye pulsed again but this time it was with something Stephen could swear was excitement. The pulsing increased as he lifted the Eye and placed the chain around his neck then once it was settled, the Eye glowed brightly. Green arcane sigils traced over his arms and body and he found himself hurled into the void and consumed by the Eye’s visions.

The Ancient One watched as Stephen jerked and gasped then, after waving Mordo and Wong over, they settled him into a meditation pose. As they watched, he rose into the air, the Cloak rippling self-importantly, and came to rest about two feet over the plinth, green sigils tracing and shifting over him in endless loops.

“Hmm,” the Ancient One said again and she gestured for Mordo and Wong to back away until they were near the door again.

“What is it?” Mordo asked and now there was a troubled look on his face. “I was… I don’t know. I think I was… somewhere else?”

“Mmm,” the Ancient One said, looking faintly amused. “I believe that someone is manipulating time.”

Both Mordo and Wong paled and looked troubled.

“Who?” Wong asked. “Who would have that kind of power?”

The Ancient One shook her head. “That is quite the question, isn’t it? Whatever they are doing and whenever they are doing it, it is so monumental as to send ripples back in time to affect various people and change the past into what is needed.” She cocked her head. “Or perhaps forward in time. It’s difficult to tell which right now, though I suspect it is the future when this is happening.”

“But Stephen will be involved somehow,” Wong said. It wasn’t a question.

“So it seems,” the Ancient One said, cocking her head curiously as she continued to watch the man in question. “The Eye does like him.”

Wong made a rumbling noise of somewhat fond exasperation. “So it does.”

“Why now though?” Mordo asked. “If the event is happening in the future and rippling back in time, why are we only seeing the effects now?”

“Time doesn’t flow in a straight line, Mordo, nor is it like a box,” the Ancient One said, a faint chiding hint to her tone that made him shift his feet like a schoolboy. “It ebbs and flows and forms eddies and tides. The consequences of what will happen – or what has happened – has only reached us now. Perhaps there is a reason for that or perhaps it is just the way the ebbs and flows have gone. We may never know.”

Mordo nodded and was silent for a moment then he asked, “What do we do now?”

“We wait,” the Ancient One replied. “Until the Eye is done with Stephen. Then we find out what it showed him. Only then can we make our plans.”

So they waited. Nearly an hour had passed when the Ancient One finally stirred. Wong and Mordo both straightened from where they were leaning against the wall.

“Mordo? Tea, please.”

Mordo inclined his head and hurried off. Wong looked over at Stephen and saw what the Ancient One had already noticed – the endless looping of the sigils was slowing down. After receiving a nod from the Ancient One, Wong hurried over to the plinth to wait for Stephen to return to them.

The sigils finally slowed to a stop then faded away and the Eye closed and resumed its somnolent state. The Cloak brought Stephen down to the floor and gently placed him near Wong’s feet. Wong knelt down and carefully braced Stephen with a hand on his back.

“Stephen?”

Stephen’s eyes opened slowly and he looked dazed and confused. He opened his mouth but the Ancient One was kneeling in front of him in an instant and she held up one hand.

“No, do not speak. Rest and recover your wits. Mordo is bringing tea.”

Stephen nodded slightly and when Mordo returned with the tea, he downed three cups thirstily before finally settling and holding his fourth cup between his hands. 

“What did you see?” the Ancient One asked gently.

“It was… confused,” Stephen said, frowning. “It was… the future? Many futures? Then… one. Then many pasts. Then one. And someone… someone’s hand on the Eye.”

The Ancient One nodded. “That does make sense in its way.”

“Why?” Stephen asked.

The Ancient One’s eyes became distant. “Someone – someone of great power – has affected all of time. Why and how I cannot say. Nor can I determine the full effect of it. But it has changed things quite profoundly. It is now a question of not only determining who has done this but why. It is no small thing to change time itself.”

“So the past… now… has changed?” Stephen said.

“You know it has. You felt it.”

Stephen nodded slowly. “Yes.”

“As have we.” The Ancient One gestured to Mordo, Wong and herself. “The key things have not changed. You still fought Kaecilius and Dormammu, you defeated them, you came into your power but other things have altered.”

She gave him a small, lop-sided smile and Stephen jerked slightly, his tea sloshing dangerously in the cup, as he remembered a conversation that had never happened and yet had.

“You…” he began, frowning.

“Yes,” she said, her smile widening for a moment before fading. 

Stephen’s gaze flickered over to Mordo as he remembered what had happened with the man and when he looked back at the Ancient One, she nodded slightly. 

“Why… can I remember?”

“The Eye. It has chosen you as its Keeper. It happens from time to time, usually when some great event is at hand,” she replied. “You will find that memories will rise as you cross over parts of the old time line that have changed then they will fade again. Not entirely but enough that they won’t interfere with what you need to do.” She cocked her head slightly. “Who is it? There will be someone. Events like this usually revolve around a single person. Sometimes more but usually just one.”

Stephen took a sip of his tea and swallowed it. “Tony Stark,” he said. “I kept seeing Tony Stark.”

The Ancient One looked surprised and then curious. “Interesting. He has come to the attention of the Masters before but we… dismissed it as mere coincidence. But it seems we may have been wrong. It seems that his timeline has been affected deeply.”

“Wouldn’t we… know about that?” Stephen asked.

The Ancient One shook her head. “That’s not how time works, Stephen. If his timeline changed when he was a child then we already exist in that timeline.”

Stephen blinked then gave a frustrated huff. The Ancient One smiled at him and his incessant need to _know_ then she turned to Wong.

“Release the books on time magic to Master Strange,” she said. “He will need them.”

“Of course,” Wong said with a bow of his head.

“There was someone else,” Stephen said suddenly. “I didn’t see him all the time but he was always there towards the end of the cycles.” He halted and looked as if he was going to speak again then he shook his head and stayed silent.

“Who?” the Ancient One said with a curious frown. She had noted his hesitance and made a mental note to speak to him about it later.

“I don’t know,” Stephen replied. “He… wasn’t human. He was… purple.”

The Ancient One took that news with aplomb then nodded. “Come. We will meditate on this. I will guide you.”

Stephen frowned. “Shouldn’t we contact Stark?”

The Ancient One simply arched an eyebrow at him. Stephen frowned and then the wash of memories and visions and whatever else it was he’d seen rose in his mind. He sighed and shook his head.

“He wouldn’t believe us, would he?”

“Not right now, no,” the Ancient One said. “But soon he will. Soon he will be looking for answers that only we can provide for him. Come, Stephen. I will guide you through the meditation and once we are done, you will understand.”

Stephen sighed and nodded then followed her out of the room, the Eye of Agamotto hanging almost smugly around his neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, that really is the Ancient One and Mordo and yes, the events of the movie did happen. Most of them anyway. Obviously the meddling that's gone on has had some deep seated effects.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony's making plans and explaining them to Pepper and Rhodey but they're interrupted by an experience none of them ever expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a moment in this chapter where you will all want to throw tomatoes at me. Just wait... remember that Death has plans for Tony.

“Are you sure about this, Tony?”

Pepper frowned as she looked at the paperwork Tony had just handed her. She didn’t like it one bit but she had to assume that Tony had some reason behind it. Not that she hadn’t expected something she wasn’t going to like when she’d walked into the breakfast meeting in the penthouse that Tony had called with her and Rhodey and found all her favourite pastries and her favourite tea laid out like an offering. ‘Buttering her up’ as her mother would have said.

“Well, personally I’d prefer to roast them over an open fire but we’re going to need them,” Tony said. “At least in the interim, until I can get things set up so that they don’t matter anymore.”

Rhodes snorted. “I don’t think they matter much right now.”

Tony’s expression was momentarily sad as he took in the wheelchair Rhodey was still confined to. He had the first iteration of the braces nearly complete but they still needed a few tweaks before they were ready to go and he hadn’t had time for that in the last few days due to endless meetings with the Accords Council. There just weren’t enough hours in the day.

“Right now, they’re all we’ve got,” he said. “Officially anyway. FRIDAY’s algorithm has identified several others whom I’d like to bring into the fold and then there’s whatever is going on with Reed and his lot since they got back from their little jaunt into space.” He grimaced then said reluctantly, “I need to catch up with Reed.”

Rhodey grinned at him. “I’m bringing the popcorn.”

“Ugh, why do you betray me, platypus, here in my own home?” Tony said, flopping on the couch melodramatically. “Mocking my perfectly legitimate hatred for Reed Richards like that.”

“Tony,” Pepper said patiently, though a small smile played around her lips at his antics. 

They’d talked since Tony’s return from Europe after the ‘Civil War’ mess as the media were calling it and their ‘on hold’ relationship was officially over. The fact that they’d _both_ greeted that decision with a sense of relief was telling but their friendship and professional relationship was showing signs of being stronger than ever, which was probably equally as telling. There was a sadness about it but she couldn’t deny that while they both loved each other, they’d always seemed to be straining to reach other and always failing and falling, mostly figuratively but sometimes literally. Her grandmother had once told her that love wasn’t enough to make a relationship work. That idea had seemed ridiculous back then in her idealistic teenage years but now… well, now she understood what her grandmother had meant.

Tony straightened up and sobered before continuing, “We need them for now. Trust me, if I thought we didn’t, I’d leave them to rot in whatever hole they’ve crawled into.”

Before Pepper or Rhodey could reply, there was an loud bang and over near the windows, the air itself seemed to _bulge_ and then snap back, leaving in its wake… an alien. That much was obvious. The alien was tall and thin with a strange squashed face that was twisted with what looked like fury. It looked around then its gaze fixed on Tony.

“Tony Stark,” it growled.

Tony stood up and moved in front of Pepper and Rhodey. “Get out of my house, Squidward,” he said with a hell of a lot more confidence than he was feeling. His suits were all downstairs in the workshop and he wasn’t even wearing his gauntlet watch.

The alien’s glare intensified, seemingly at the name it had been called, and it made a sharp gesture with one hand. Out of nowhere, sharp spines of what looked like glass appeared and before Tony could react they had lanced forward and impaled him. He froze in an agonised arch for a moment, his face fixed in a pain-filled rictus, then he toppled to the ground. Pepper screamed and threw herself towards Tony while Rhodey lurched in his chair, his face a picture of fury and ineffable, impotent frustration as he shouted angrily.

“My master will reward me for this,” the alien snarled triumphantly. The air then abruptly bulged again and when it snapped back, the alien was gone, the glittering shards impaling Tony shattering and disappearing into nothing in his wake.

For a moment, no one moved then Pepper finished her rush forward and reached Tony’s side. Her hands fluttering over the wounds in his chest and stomach. Rhodey had thrown himself out of his chair and dragged himself over as well. Blood was soaking Tony’s shirt and he was gasping and clutching uselessly at the wounds left by the spines.

“Pep,” he managed, blood bubbling and staining his lips, then he gasped and gurgled, blood flowing out of his mouth in a flood, before finally stilling, his eyes dull and staring into nothing and his last breath sighed out of him.

“Tony,” Pepper said, her voice broken and shocked. Rhodey seem stunned into silence and then he pulled himself up enough to sit up.

“Pepper,” he croaked.

She looked up at him, tears falling slowly from her eyes, and nodded. There were things they needed to do, things that couldn’t wait even for their grief. Tony had put together a list of instructions of what to do in the event of his death, for the company, for the Avengers and for them. She pulled away from Tony and slowly stood up. As she did that, Rhodey dragged himself back over to his wheelchair and got into it.

“We need to… call the Council,” Rhodey said, sounding shattered. “That was… not from Earth.”

Pepper nodded, trying to pull herself together to be the CEO she needed to be but failing. “I’ll… we’ll need… Um…”

It was the light that made them look back down at Tony and they both gasped. Tony was wreathed in an eldritch light. It crawled over and around him in strange markings of green and black. It flashed momentarily here and there, leaving them blinking and dazed and with the strangest feeling that there was someone else in the room. When the light finally faded, the wounds left by the spines had healed as though they’d never been there and Tony gasped back into life. He scrabbled away, clutching at his chest and stomach, looking around then down as though he expected to see himself cut open but there was nothing. He looked over at them with wild, frightened eyes and saw that same look from them in return.

“I died.”

Rhodey nodded jerkily. “You did.”

“I died,” Tony repeated. “And now, I’m not.” He went pale and Pepper took a step forward, thinking he was going to faint. “I died in Siberia.”

Silence reigned in the wake of that statement before Pepper said, her voice shrill and wavering, “What?”

“I died in Siberia,” Tony repeated. He sounded utterly certain.

Once again silence greeted that statement.

“Vision did say that he thought the bruising indicated severe internal injuries,” Rhodey said in a brittle tone, as though he was hanging onto his calm by the thinnest of threads. “But the doctors didn’t find anything to support that. They just thought you were lucky and the suit absorbed the worst of it.”

Tony nodded again. “I died in Afghanistan. More than once. Yin… Yinsen said it was a miracle I survived, that he thought he’d lost me more than once. I thought he was being dramatic.”

Pepper and Rhodey weren’t surprised by the sudden leap, both well used to the way Tony’s mind worked. They did frown a little at the unfamiliar name, though they weren’t surprised to hear it. They’d both figured out long ago that Tony couldn’t have been alone in his captivity. Between the surgery and the armour he’d described there had to have been someone helping him, someone he _trusted_ , so it couldn’t have been one of the terrorists. They’d also assumed whoever it was had died because Tony had point blank refused to talk about it.

“How?” Rhodey asked softly.

The look Tony gave him was lost and frightened and something he hadn’t seen since before Howard and Maria had died, when Tony had been too young and too small and too skinny to be at the shark tank that was MIT.

“I don’t know.”

They just stared at each other then, until Pepper gave herself a small shake. “Tony, you should… get cleaned up.”

Tony looked down at his blood-stained shirt and the blood-smeared and scarred but otherwise untarnished skin beneath, the only evidence that the alien had been here and killed him. He nodded then got to his feet, expecting to feel faint or shaky or weak but he felt… fine, good even, and not at all like he’d been stabbed and bled to death. That was the physical anyway. His mind was reeling and from the looks on Pepper and Rhodey’s faces, they felt the same. They were all probably going to need therapy of some description. 

He made his way over to his bedroom and when he caught sight of his bed, he came to an abrupt halt. There, sitting neatly in the middle of the duvet, was a small cream-coloured business card. He edged his way over to the bed and gingerly picked the card up and read the single line of ornate black writing on it.

_177A Bleecker Street_

He put the card down again then cleaned up and changed his shirt. He tried to be quick but the reaction tremors hit him in the shower and he spent ten minutes just _breathing_ and getting himself under control. He grabbed the card then made his way back out to the living room.

“Uh, Pep? Sugarplum?” He waved the card in the air. “Do we know anyone at 177A Bleecker Street?”

“What the hell is that?” Rhodey asked.

“A business card,” Tony replied. “That was lying on my bed. That wasn’t there this morning.” He suddenly stopped and snorted. “And whoever left it there has a definite sense of the dramatic. They made my bed as well, just so they could leave this ominously in the middle of it.”

Rhodey stared at him for a moment then swallowed and shrugged, clearly deciding that today, after all that had happened, he was just going to roll with it or risk having some sort of breakdown. “Weird.”

“What are you going to do?” Pepper asked, a worried look on her face.

Tony looked down at the card. “Go pay a visit to whoever lives here. It’s too much of a coincidence that this happened right after…” His voice tailed off and he shuddered. “Well, _that_ happened. They either know who or what Squidward was and are helping him or… they want to help me.”

“You’re not going alone,” Rhodey said firmly.

“Platypus,” Tony began, looking at him helplessly.

Rhodey scowled. He couldn’t go and neither could Pepper, not if these people were allies of the alien. Vision was in Europe, wrangling the Accords Council in their stead, and… there was no one else.

“Wait for Vision,” Rhodey demanded. “We’ll call him back now. It won’t take him _that_ long to get here. You’re not going without back up.”

Tony looked like he wanted to argue but then he relented and nodded. “Okay. FRI? Call Viz and let him know we need him back here now. Show him the video of what happened if he argues.”

“You got it, boss.” 

Tony looked down at the card again then tossed it on the coffee table. “I’m going to go and make sure the suitcase armour is ready.”

With that, he walked out of penthouse, his straight back and stiff shoulders screaming his unease louder than any words could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And about five minutes from now, all three of them have minor breakdowns before pulling themselves together again.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and Vision head over to the New York Sanctum and questions are answered. Some of them anyway.

“Are you sure this is wise?” Vision asked as they approached the front door of the imposing house on Bleecker Street. The late afternoon sun was warm on their backs as they stood there.

“No but we don’t have many options,” Tony replied, adjusting his sunglasses for a moment before hitching up the briefcase he was carrying.

“That is true,” Vision replied. “What happened earlier today was… disturbing.”

“You should have tried it from my end,” Tony quipped with a lightness he didn’t really feel.

Vision clearly didn’t see the humour in that. “Perhaps we should wait until tomorrow?”

Tony shook his head. “No, let’s get this over and done with.” 

He reached out and rang the doorbell and they waited. The door was opened by a stocky Chinese man in strange, almost archaic clothes, who gave them both an intense look.

“Dr Stark, Vision,” the man said, inclining his head slightly. “Please come in.”

Tony and Vision stepped through the door to find a… very strange house. There were display cases everywhere with unusual items in them and right in front of them was an imposing staircase leading up to a landing overlooked by a round window. Standing at the top of the stairs was an interesting group of people – a bald woman of indeterminate age, a black man who watched them warily and a white man who Tony vaguely recognised but couldn’t quite place. They were all wearing similar clothing to the man who’d answered the door. 

He fished the card out of his pocket and held it up. “Neat trick. And thanks for making my bed for me.”

The woman looked faintly amused. “Welcome, Dr Stark and Vision, to the New York Sanctum Sanctorum. I am the Ancient One. These are my colleagues – Wong, Karl Mordo and Dr Stephen Strange.”

She had pointed to each in turn and when she got to Strange, Tony remembered where he’d met the man. It had been at a charity benefit a few years back. They’d talked briefly and Tony remembered the doctor had been delightfully sarcastic and snarky and not at all intimidated by him. Nor had he fawned all over him or tried to pick him up. It had been refreshing.

“Good to meet you,” Tony said tersely then he nodded to Strange. “Nice facial hair.”

The amused air around the Ancient One intensified for a moment then she waved them up the stairs. “Please, join us. I’d imagine you have questions about what happened this morning.”

Tony, who had been about to put one foot on the stairs, froze and Vision immediately loomed behind him in a protective gesture.

“How the hell do you know about that?” Tony asked, his eyes narrowed.

“We know a great many things,” the Ancient One replied. “However, we mean you no harm.”

Tony exchanged a look with Vision then sighed and made his way up the stairs. The Ancient One lead them into a nearby room where there was a low table holding a tea setting, the tea pot steaming lightly as though they’d known that Tony and Vision were about to arrive. The Ancient One waved them all into seats and Wong poured the tea. As he accepted his cup, Tony noticed the scars running along Strange’s hands as well as the way his hands were trembling slightly. He somehow didn’t think the trembling was due to nervousness or fear.

“Alright, I’m here,” Tony said, frowning. “Now what the hell is going on?”

The Ancient One set her teacup down and folded her hands together in her lap. “What do you know about Infinity Stones, Dr Stark?”

Tony tensed and he could feel Vision do the same next to him. “Not much,” he admitted. “What little I know comes from Thor. They’re powerful artefacts and we’ve come into contact with two of them. The tesseract, which Thor said holds the Space Stone, and the Mind Stone which…”

He trailed off and the Ancient One smiled slightly. “Which currently resides in the forehead of your companion.” She gestured towards Strange. “Stephen holds a third in the Eye of Agamotto. The Time Stone. It is the stones which bring you here today.”

Tony frowned. “How?”

“We are sorcerers, Dr Stark. The Masters of the Mystic Arts,” the Ancient One said. “We harness and control dimensional energy and use to it protect the Earth and other dimensions in the multiverse. It gives us immense power but also an immense responsibility. A week ago, we felt our universe… lurch sideways as it were. Not a literal description but certainly a figurative one. At some time in the future, someone of great power will manipulate time itself in order to bring about an event of their choosing. An event which will involve two focal points. One we have not met yet and the other… well…” She raised an eyebrow at him. “That brings us to you.”

Tony stared at her. He hadn’t missed the timing on all of this. This lurch they were talking about had happened more or less at the same time as the events in Siberia. “Wait… you think _I’m_ this… Chosen One.”

“I know you are,” the Ancient One replied serenely. “And you know you are as well. How many times have you died, Dr Stark? How many times has Death refused to take you?”

Tony blanched and his grip on his tea cup tightened momentarily. “Okay, let’s _say_ I believe you. What the hell am I supposed to do?”

“That I cannot tell you.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

“Cannot,” the Ancient One said. “Stephen was called by the Time Stone. He is its chosen Keeper. It graced him with the knowledge that you were the one we sought but not even he can coax the circumstances out of the Stone.” She smiled faintly. “But I think we have already begun to see the pattern, have we not? You were attacked this morning.”

“How the hell do you know about that?” Tony demanded.

“We have been keeping watch over you,” the Ancient One replied. “It was necessary, though I apologise for the intrusion. However, had we approached you before today, would you have believed us?”

“I’m not sure I believe you now,” Tony blustered.

“Yes, you do,” the Ancient One replied. Her expression hardened a little. “If you will forgive the phrase, time is not on our side, Dr Stark, and I’m afraid we cannot draw you into this gently. We may not know what will happen but we do know when. We have two years to prepare for what comes, whatever form it will take.”

“Aliens,” Tony blurted before he could stop himself.

“The same ones as before?” Mordo asked, leaning forward slightly.

“I… don’t know,” Tony replied. “The one who… killed me this morning sure didn’t look anything like the Chitauri and he used… I don’t know… magic?” He grimaced.

“It looked very much like some form of magic from what FRIDAY caught on video,” Vision said with a calmness that matched that of the Ancient One. “He conjured long, thin spines out of nothing and threw them at Tony.”

“Did he say anything?” the Ancient One asked.

Tony grimaced. “He said ‘my master will reward me for this’.”

The Ancient One exchanged glances with her fellow sorcerers. “No doubt his master is the other being Stephen has seen courtesy of the Time Stone.” She gave Tony a grave look. “He or others like him will return to try again once they realise he failed.”

Tony sighed. “Yeah, I’d kind of figured that.” He gave the woman a frustrated look. “So what am I supposed to do?”

“What you had planned to do,” she replied. “But know that we, the Masters of the Mystic Arts, will stand with you and will do all we can to protect you. Stephen is the new Master of the New York Sanctum and he will work most closely with you but we will all do what we can to keep you safe.”

Tony glanced over at Stephen then back at the Ancient One. “So this… whoever that’s manipulating time has been keeping me alive? Doesn’t that mean Squidward and his buddies can’t kill me? And why did I heal completely this time when after Siberia I had bruises all over me and I was unconscious for four days?”

“In regards to your second question, I am unsure. Perhaps it was felt that you did not need to be completely healed in Siberia or that being completely healed would be dangerous or raise more questions than was wise. In comparison, unless the wounds you received this morning were healed completely, they would likely kill you again once you were revived.” She paused and then sighed. “As to your first question… perhaps. There is no way of truly knowing and…” She arched an eyebrow at him. “Wouldn’t it be better to prevent your death than have to explain why it didn’t last?”

Tony shuddered. “Ugh, good point.”

“Besides, Dr Stark,” Mordo said darkly. “If this enemy of ours fails to kill you, it will undoubtedly turn to some other way to avoid its fate.”

Tony stared at him for a long moment. “Wow. You really need to lighten up but I get your point.” He ignored the expressions of amusement on the faces of the other sorcerers as easily as he did the exasperation on Mordo’s. “So… if we’re starting where I’d planned to, any of you want to join the Avengers?”

The four surprised looks he got in return were, in his opinion, well worth everything else the day had decided to throw at him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony and Stephen have a chat. Questions are answered but that just leads into more questions.

“So how exactly did one of the world’s leading neurosurgeons become a sorcerer?” Tony asked, finally able to indulge his curiosity now that he and Stephen were just relaxing in the penthouse instead of running around going to various meetings – or in Stephen’s, occasionally disappearing into other dimensions. They both had a drink but for both of them it was decidedly non-alcoholic.

It had been two weeks since Tony’s meeting with the Ancient One and after a bit of discussion, both Stephen and Mordo had agreed to join the Avengers. Both still had responsibilities and duties at both Kamar Taj and the New York Sanctum but between the two of them, they’d managed to have at least one of them at all Avengers-related meetings since then.

Tony liked both of them. Well, he liked all four of the Masters that he’d met, even if the Ancient One did give him the shivers. There was something very strange about that woman but he was mostly trying to ignore it. It was pretty clear she was held in high esteem by Stephen and the others and he could certainly see why. She could be cryptic and she certainly had no time for fools but she was intelligent and eloquent and able to see past all of Tony’s theatrics to what was really going on. Normally that would send him screaming in the opposite direction but the Ancient One just seemed to be amused by his antics, indulged them to a certain extent then cut past them to what was important. He’d always liked people who realised that his theatrics didn’t mean he wasn’t paying attention or listening to every word that was being said.

“You heard about my accident?” Stephen said, his voice was a little tight but he answered easily enough so Tony kept going.

“Yep. Happy took it as an opportunity to make comments about my driving.”

Stephen’s lips tilted up into smile for a brief moment before he sobered again. He held up his hands, the backs of them towards Tony so he could see the scars… and the way they trembled constantly. “My hands were crushed by the dashboard folding in on them. They were able to reconstruct them but there was irreparable nerve damage.”

Tony winced. “Ouch. So… you went looking for a cure?”

Stephen nodded. “My physical therapist mentioned a former patient of his. Paraplegic who he’d seen _walking_. I found him and he sent me to Kamar Taj.” He snorted. “I _thought_ I was going to a place doing experimental medical procedures, maybe some kind of stem cell research. Turned out to be _magic_.”

“Magic. Right,” Tony said dubiously, which clearly amused Stephen. “Didn’t the Ancient One say something about dimensional energy?”

He was surprised when Stephen started actually laughing. “I had that same reaction when I first got there,” he said. “The Ancient One got very exasperated with me. I won’t give you the same treatment she gave to me. Yes, we draw on dimensional energy from the multiverse to provide power for what are called, as a shorthand, spells. As she said to me, you could just as easily consider them programs.”

Tony frowned. “Okay, I guess, though I think I’m going to need more than that.” He raised an eyebrow. “But no cure though?”

“It could have been,” Stephen replied, looking down at his hands. “Pangborn used it as a cure. He channels the dimensional energy into himself so he can walk. I could do the same for my hands but…” He shook his head. “There are bigger things out there, things I can do something about.”

“Yeah,” Tony said soberly. “Squidward and his master. Whoever the hell that is. And whoever it is who’s manipulating all of this in the first place.”

“Among other things,” Stephen replied. He then eyed Tony curiously. “You haven’t asked the questions I thought you would.”

“You mean about this whole can’t die and apparently being the Chosen One thing?” Tony shrugged. “I have them. I’m just not sure I want to know the answers.” He stared down into his glass for a moment. “How long?”

“How long what?”

“How long has this thing been keeping me alive?”

Stephen was silent for a moment. “It probably changed your entire timeline. Why?”

Tony shook his head. “I just… there are moments…”

“Where you survived something you shouldn’t have?”

Tony nodded. “Yeah and not just recently, like Afghanistan. There were a few things in my twenties and…” He grimaced. “A couple of kidnappings that went awry when I was a kid.”

Stephen raised an eyebrow. “Exactly how many times have you been kidnapped?”

“I stopped counting after ten,” Tony said then when Stephen looked startled, he snorted. “Most of them never lasted long even after Dad stopped paying the ransom. I got really good at _un_ kidnapping myself. Then they sort of tailed off after I took over the company when I turned twenty-one but I’ll admit I was a bit better about not running off on my own then.”

Stephen stared at him for a long moment and Tony frowned. “What?”

“How is it you were kidnapped so much?”

Tony shrugged. “Dad had a lot of enemies but he also didn’t like having a lot of people around the house. It was really only us and Edwin and Ana Jarvis.”

“No security?”

Tony shook his head. “No. Obie started hiring security after Mom and Dad died.” He grimaced. “I hated it. At least until I found Happy.”

Stephen had met Happy Hogan and the man was very much like a Rottweiler in a Labrador’s coat when it came to Tony. He didn’t _look_ like much but he could be surprisingly ruthless when it came to Tony’s protection. 

“Why him?”

Tony shrugged. “He was my choice. He didn’t look at me like I was an annoyance. He didn’t try and curtail my activities, he just found ways to work things out around them.” He smiled fondly. “And he figured out pretty quickly that if I was getting out of hand, he could just pick me up by the scruff of the neck and haul me away and I wouldn’t sack him in the morning.”

“Smart man,” Stephen observed.

Tony nodded. “Yeah.” He then arched an eyebrow at Stephen and made an abrupt change to the subject. “What’s the something else you’re not telling me?”

Stephen blinked but though he might not be a genius on Tony’s level, he was a genius in his own right. He didn’t need endless explanations to know what Tony was talking about. He seen the narrowed looks when either he or the Ancient One glossed over things. He’d been told by the Ancient One that he was to wait until Tony asked however. It wasn’t exactly the easiest thing to bring up on conversation.

“I’m not sure you really want to know,” he said dryly.

“Because it’s bad?”

Stephen shook his head. “Because we can’t really explain it.”

Tony considered that. “Eh, try me anyway.”

Stephen was silent for a moment then he nodded, more to himself than anything else. “Very well. When the universe… lurched, for lack of a better term, the Eye became active and it allowed me to see… a great deal, though much of it was confused and complex. I’m still struggling to understand most of it, even with the Ancient One’s help. She says that I’ll probably only be able to truly understand parts when the time is right.”

“I hate that cryptic shit,” Tony grumbled.

“She’s as frustrated as we are,” Stephen said. “She’s just better at being patient.”

“Well, she’s called the Ancient One so I sort of assumed that,” Tony quipped.

Stephen chuckled then continued. “Mostly what we concentrated on was the who. Who was going to be involved.”

“I’m guessing you saw me?”

“Yes,” Stephen said with a nod. “I saw you. I saw the purple alien we’ve told you about. And I saw someone… or something… else. The one whose hand was on the Time Stone, the one who brought this all about.”

“Who?”

Stephen hesitated. “I… didn’t know what to make of it but the Ancient One is sure of her identification.”

“Okay,” Tony said. “Now I’m getting nervous. Spit it out.”

“Death.”

Tony blinked. “Wait… Death? As in Death is a… person?”

“Being might be a better description but yes,” Stephen replied.

Tony drained half his coffee in one gulp. “Right. There is a personification of Death and… it? They? He? She? Is going to be involved?”

“The Ancient One says ‘she’ is the best choice of pronoun,” Stephen replied blandly. “And before you ask, no, I don’t know why she’s doing this.”

“Jesus,” Tony said, running a hand down his face. “That’s making the old nickname hit a little too close to home.” When Stephen cocked his head, Tony continued, “Merchant of Death. My old nickname from the weapons making era.”

“Ah, yes,” Stephen said. He considered that with interest. “It is an odd coincidence.”

Tony raised an eyebrow. “Is it a coincidence?”

“You think it isn’t?”

“I don’t know what to think,” Tony admitted. “But you’ve got to admit it’s weird. The Merchant of Death has been kept alive by Death herself.” He paused and rolled his eyes. “And remind me not to say that anywhere near the press. Pepper would kill me for creating a firestorm that epic.”

“I’ll talk to the Ancient One,” Stephen said after a moment of thought. “You may have a point.”

“Will she have an answer?”

Stephen shrugged. “It’s hard to say. I know she knows more about what’s going on than she’s admitting.” He paused for a moment. “She shouldn’t be here, after all.”

Tony frowned. “What do you mean by that?”

“The… lurch we described,” Stephen said. “It changed some things very profoundly. I only remember because of the Time Stone. For some reason it _wants_ me to remember. I’m not entirely sure how the Ancient One knows but she is very old and very powerful.”

“She… died?” Tony ventured.

Stephen nodded. “Yes. She died and Mordo became… disillusioned and angry and left.”

“Does he know?” Tony asked.

“He’s aware something is a bit odd,” Stephen replied. “But he doesn’t remember what happened. He remembers fighting Kaecilius and he remembers me defeating Dormammu in Hong Kong but he doesn’t remember certain key facts that came out during that time.”

Tony grimaced. “That’s disturbing.”

“You’re telling me,” Stephen said sourly. “Though… I do sort of appreciate having my arrogant presumption that I knew best being smoothed over. I didn’t understand the situation in full and I… wasn’t at my best. I was looking to lash out and…” He sighed. “I was an ass.”

Tony chuckled. “Story of my life.”

“And mine,” Stephen said with a wry smile.

A slightly awkward silence fell that was abruptly broken when the elevator dinged and Stephen’s Cloak of Levitation came pelting out with DUM-E in hot pursuit, beeping fiercely. The awkward peace of a moment ago was unilaterally discarded in favour of sorting out the disagreement between the two but neither of them actually forgot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter we'll meet Death and find out what she thinks about all of this...


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And here is what Death thinks about all of this.

Death watched the two men barter peace between their children with amusement. She knew neither of them would admit to that designation for the Cloak and the little robot but it was true nonetheless. She had learned much about them in the time she had been watching. Their timelines were so inextricably bound together now that to examine and learn about one necessitated doing the same for the other. It hadn’t always been so but when she’d placed her hand on the Time Stone and manipulated it, there had been a number of unexpected side effects.

She normally didn’t interfere so deeply, content to watch life come and go in its natural processes. Thanos, however, had forced her hand. His actions threatened to rip apart the very fabric of the universe itself and if that happened, all life would die, even that of Death herself.

And Life, she was willing to admit. She and her sister worked hand in hand but didn’t always see eye to eye. Life was soft and kind-hearted, delighting in her handiwork and mourning every soul, even the smallest and most insignificant, that passed into her sister’s hands. Death found it exasperating but such was the way things were. Life was kind but Death… Death was always pragmatic.

She wondered whether that was why Anthony Stark was so fascinating to her. He possessed a level of practicality and pragmatism that she admired but leavened it with kindness and caring in ways she never could. Combine all of that with his brilliance and she had never quite met another like him.

Certainly there were smarter people in the world, not just his world but others throughout the universe, but they didn’t possess the potential that he did. The man, Stephen Strange, was a genius as well and yet he was still left behind. Perhaps it was because Stephen liked a single path. First he had pursued medicine and specialised within that field. When that was lost to him, he found magic and pursued that with single-minded intensity. There was potential within him to walk multiple paths simultaneously, the way Anthony did, but he never did so. Perhaps he would learn in time or perhaps not.

There was a young girl halfway around the world who shone as brilliantly or more so than Anthony Stark but she was… constrained. By her youth, by her circumstances, by her particular time and place of birth. The first would be corrected with time but the other two… Death was generally not one to examine the strands of time – everyone came to her eventually, after all – and the girl’s future was in too much flux to make it easy to determine what she could be. She could fly higher than anyone had before, she could crash and burn in a flash that would bring her to Death’s domain or she could end up almost anywhere in between.

But the girl wasn’t Death’s concern. Not unless her fate became intertwined with that of these two men. From what she had seen, the chances of that happening were fifty-fifty and largely dependent on her brother’s actions, not hers.

She had chuckled at Anthony’s speculation about a possible connection between herself and his former title. She hadn’t known about it. Before future events, Anthony Stark had been of no more interest to her than any other human. He had come to her domain in many different ways in many different timelines, his brilliance and genius snuffed out prematurely. Timelines that no longer existed thanks to her meddling. She would pay a price for that eventually. One couldn’t meddle with time that extensively and not reap some sort of consequence for it. She didn’t mind. As long as the universe was intact, she would endure her punishment willingly. And it would hardly be too onerous. Death was a necessity after all.

No, the Merchant of Death was an amusing title but not one he really warranted wearing. She took a very particular viewpoint when it came to death. She was Death, after all. Being pedantic about degrees of culpability was her prerogative and, frankly, her forte and her delight. There were, in her eyes, _levels_ of both direct and indirect involvement in the deaths of others. As for whether someone was a _Merchant of Death_ … well, she’d be the judge of _that_ , thank you very much.

Anthony Stark had never been a Merchant of Death. She _had_ those who could be called such, loyal vassals who did her bidding, but Anthony Stark had never been one. To be a Merchant of Death was to _enjoy_ the taking of a life and even before his epiphany in Afghanistan, Anthony had never felt any _enjoyment_ in creating the weapons of war or in contemplating their usage. He had been a prisoner of his name and his legacy, trapped in an endless, apathetic cycle that he’d desperately sought release from yet lacked the focus to actually do so. Afghanistan had given him not only the impetus but also that precious focus.

Since that time, he had focussed on saving lives, not taking them. He had taken them, of course. That had been inevitable but once again, it had never been done with any sense of satisfaction or joy, just pragmatic determination that it _must_ be done and if it _must_ be done, it had best be done quickly and cleanly.

If she were to name anyone within his circles of family, friends, colleagues and acquaintances as one of her Merchants, she need look no further than his former teammates. The Witch had practically _revelled_ in the taking of lives during her time in HYDRA and while that glee was dampened a little these days, her quick turn to violence in any situation spoke louder than words that it still simmered just below the surface. The Spider and the Archer also showed no remorse when the time came to take a life. They had more of her admiration though since they sought to be clean and quick and practical about dealing death.

It was the Soldiers though… they were the ones that truly deserved that title, one more so than the other. The Winter Soldier had been a true Merchant of Death during his days as a puppet of HYDRA, killing without remorse or regret and with the satisfaction of a job well done. James Barnes was less so. He had the capacity for it, the pragmatism that had made him a superb sniper during the war, but he, like Anthony, lacked the appetite and the heart for it. Given his choice, Barnes would seek peace and solitude, calm and quiet. 

His brother Soldier though… Death was almost impressed. Perhaps would have been if she hadn’t had to step in during the aftermath of events in Siberia. He was a little more chaotic than she usually preferred but his body count, both direct and indirect, was astonishing for the small amount of time he’d been operating. If he didn’t risk getting things out of balance, she might almost have claimed him as one of her own.

But there always had to be a balance between Life and Death. Neither was ever allowed to gain the upper hand. Just as Life could bring about conditions in which she could flourish, Death could send out her agents to restore the balance. But never to upset it.

Which brought her, as so many of her thoughts did these days, back to Thanos.

He sought to upset the balance. He sought to wipe out half of all life in the universe in the misguided notion that it would impress and delight her. He didn’t seem to realise that tilting the balance of the universe that sharply would instead rip the entirety of existence to shreds. There would be no Death because there would be no Life.

So she’d had to act. Life couldn’t. Or wouldn’t. It didn’t really matter which. It amounted to the same thing. But Life had always been more passive than Death. 

Stephen had once (and perhaps would again) seen fourteen million, six hundred and five possible futures with a myriad of outcomes, some distinct and unique, some variations on a theme. The Time Stone this time had shown him how much Death’s meddling had changed things. She’d had to step in then and hide the knowledge from him. She understood the Time Stone’s actions, approved of them even, but she couldn’t have Stephen inadvertently sabotaging what needed to be done. He wouldn’t even do it maliciously. The Time Stone’s view of time and the world was… unique. It was both a part of this world and separate from it. That coloured its point of view and sometimes made it overly enthusiastic. 

It did, after all, want this to succeed as much as she did. As did the other Stones or she would never have been allowed to do what she did, not with them all in such close proximity and under the iron will of Thanos. But they were pragmatic things at heart and they understood as well as she did that without Life and without Death, they were nothing but insignificant motes floating in an empty universe. For the Stones to have power, they needed something to act upon and something to give them purpose. If Thanos ripped the universe apart, they would be nothing and that was not something they were willing to accept. The gauntlet bound them to Thanos’ will but they were powerful things and there were always loopholes. 

So they had allowed her to act, to provide the power and impetus to the Time Stone, to contribute their own power where needed, to ensure that everything lead to one point. The timelines were still mutable and changeable, based on the decisions – or lack of decisions – made by people but they were all leading to one inevitable point in time. Some might rail against that, claim that it didn’t matter what they did if they were all going to end up at the same point anyway but that was missing the mark by a very wide margin. 

They would all end up at the same point, a point of Death’s making and choosing, but what form they were in when they got there was up to them. She’d meddled as much as she could, nudged things in certain directions and would ensure now and in the future to come that Anthony Stark was still alive to reach that point but the rest was up to them. If Anthony decided he’d had enough and retired to an island in the Bahamas, they would reach that point in time in dire straits. 

Death didn’t like to think about what would happen if that occurred. She could force that point in time into being, she could meddle and nudge and ensure people lived but once that point in time was reached, it was out of her hands and entirely in Anthony’s. It was risk; a large one to be sure but, she hoped, a calculated one. 

She turned her attention back to the two men in the room. She was good at calculated risks and bringing these two men together _now_ , rather than waiting, tilted the balance decidedly in her favour. The rest was up to them. Mostly.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony & Stephen get Mordo up to speed on everything that's been going on. That's really all that happens in this chapter...

Mordo screwed up his face into an expression of disdain as he read the tablet he’d been given when he walked into Tony’s penthouse apartment. He looked over at the man in question and gave him a very dubious look.

“You really want to bring them back?”

Tony shrugged. He was lounging on the couch with his head in a very exasperated Stephen’s lap and was, incongruously enough, playing patty cake with the Cloak. Mordo had already taken a picture _and_ a video of it on his phone and sent both to Wong and the Ancient One, completely ignoring Stephen’s scowls and threats. He’d also noticed that Stephen wasn’t doing anything to either move Tony or stop the little game being played with the Cloak and was in fact blushing a little. He reminded himself yet again to tease Stephen mercilessly once they were back at the Sanctum.

“ _Want_ is a very strong word,” Tony said dryly. “Also an inaccurate one. If I _want_ to do anything with them, it’s to strand them on Everest without a way back…”

Stephen snickered and Mordo joined in. He found it interesting that Stephen had clearly been sharing tales from his training and not necessarily only the ones that made him look good. It was a very interesting – and amusing – little dance going on between those two and he made another mental reminder to get into the betting pool Wong had going about when they’d actually get together.

“…but until I get the Avengers into the position where I want them, I need the extra bodies,” Tony finished. He paused thoughtfully until the Cloak poked him. “Also, I like the idea of knowing precisely where they are and having them under control.”

Mordo raised an eyebrow. “Under control?”

Tony turned his head and raised it slightly so he could arch an eyebrow right back at him. “You didn’t think I was just going to let them back, willy nilly, did you?”

“Ah,” Mordo said. “Now some of this makes sense. You know that T’Challa will see through those paragraphs and recognise them for what they are.”

“I know,” Tony replied. “He already has. He gave me this _look_ like he wanted to ask questions but then decided not to. I think whatever idealistic view he once had of Captain America and his buddies has died a very hard death and now he just wants to get rid of them. Only he can’t speak too loudly either way because the Council is none too pleased with his actions but they’ve been distracted with these negotiations. He doesn’t want to give them reason to turn their attention on him again.”

The three men exchanged wryly amused looks. T’Challa had been full of excuses and artfully constructed reasons and whatnot when he’d brought the information about the rogues’ location to the Council. Tony was fairly sure no one on the Council actually believed a word the king said but they were letting it go for now. Whatever his sins and mistakes, T’Challa had managed to keep them contained and that was a good thing as far as everyone was concern.

“How did the Council react to them?” Mordo asked, gesturing towards the tablet he was holding.

Tony and Stephen exchanged glances and snickered together. Mordo decided that was both adorable and slightly worrying, especially when the Cloak seemed to be amused as well.

“It was kind of funny watching them as the meaning of the paragraphs sank in,” Tony said. “You could tell that they thought it was far too lenient at first, then they realised that those bland sentences and paragraphs actually turned the Compound in a kind of prison and they all got these very satisfied, smug, cat that ate the canary looks on their faces.”

“The Ancient One has a spell that can be used to disguise the Mirror Dimension,” Stephen said. “She won’t teach it to me just yet but she has agreed to come and put it in place around the new living and training areas designated for the Scavengers.”

Tony giggled at the designation for the rogues and from the look on Stephen’s face, that was exactly what he’d been aiming for. Mordo _definitely_ wanted to get in on Wong’s betting pool now because if the looks those two were giving each other when they thought the other wasn’t looking was anything to go by, it wouldn’t be long before one of them made a move.

“And they’ll only be allowed out for official requirements,” Mordo mused, looking back down at his tablet in an effort to not laugh at the pair of them. “And what if they try to get out anyway?”

“Another spell,” Stephen said. “That forget me spell you told me about once.”

“The Muggle Repelling Charm,” Tony said with a wicked grin.

Stephen huffed a sigh and looked very put upon. “I regret the day you decided to read those books.”

“I didn’t read them,” Tony replied. “I listened to the audio books while I was working. Stephen Fry has a gorgeous voice.”

Mordo swallowed his laughter. “And no one on the Council had any complaints?”

“Nope,” Tony said, popping the ‘p’ sound. “They all agreed it’s a nice, non-invasive way of keeping them out of trouble.”

“The only potential issue is Maximoff,” Stephen said. “She may be able to sense the spells. Vision has offered to test them out since he’s got the Mind Stone and her powers came from that thing. It’s not an absolute guarantee but it’s the best we can do.”

“The alternative is letting them roam around and that was the key sticking point when we were negotiating about this with the Council,” Tony added.

“Why bother at all?” Mordo said with a grimace.

“Because then we were taking the risk that T’Challa would get sick of them and kick them out,” Tony said. “That would leave them roaming the world without supervision and while I couldn’t care less about what happens to them, I _do_ care about the innocent people they’d hurt or kill.”

Mordo nodded. “A good point.”

“Besides,” Stephen said soberly. “This whole thing we’re involved in now has to do with the Infinity Stones and Maximoff’s power comes from one of them. We don’t know how much the Stone has influenced her or could still influence her. And since we know this is all about the stones, that means she’s a problem.”

Mordo raised an eyebrow. “The Ancient One has said this?”

Stephen nodded. “She has. She wishes to assess Maximoff. And aside from the Stones, there has also been a concern raised in the Council about her.”

“Oh?”

“We’re pretty sure it’s come from Sokovia originally but it was the Russian rep that raised it since he’s the one on the Council,” Tony said from where he’d settled back down with his head in Stephen’s lap again so he could continue playing games with the Cloak.

Mordo could see that Stephen’s hand was twitching and he didn’t think it had anything to do with pain this time. He suspected Stephen was restraining himself from running his hand through Tony’s hair. He made eye contact with Stephen and smirked at him. Stephen scowled back and Mordo turned his smirk into an outright grin.

“What’s their concern?” he said, his voice not reflecting a single hint of his amusement.

“That Maximoff is still HYDRA and that given half a chance, she’ll join this alien in trying to kill me and whatever else he’s going to do,” Tony replied. He sounded unconcerned but Mordo had learned that was pretty common when Tony was discussing personal threats. It didn’t mean he _wasn’t_ concerned, just that he’d learned not to show it. “Not that she’d succeed but still.”

“That must have surprised the Council,” Mordo replied.

He knew that the Ancient One had had gone before the Council to tell them what she knew of the oncoming threat and that Tony and Stephen would be key parts of it. He’d been part of the discussion about that and mostly they’d been deciding whether or not to tell the Council about Tony’s situation with death. The decision had eventually been made to tell them. It would make it easier in the long run, especially if the aliens managed to do something public. There hadn’t been a second attempt as yet but no one was willing to assume it wasn’t coming.

“They weren’t surprised to hear she had once been HYDRA, so I’m guessing the Sokovian rep had let that slip to enough people to get passed around, but they’d apparently bought into Rogers’ line about her being a poor, sweet, little innocent who had been taken advantage of by the big, bad HYDRA.” Tony shrugged. “No great surprise. Most people had. But they _are_ surprised that Russia _still_ considers her to be HYDRA.”

“You don’t seem too surprised.”

Tony’s smile was bitter. “I’m not. I’ve got no idea whether they’re right or not but I will tell you one thing – Maximoff has never shown a single drop of remorse or regret for anything she did either for Ultron or before that. And the only moping she did about the mess in Lagos was because people were being _mean_ to her. The fact that eleven people died didn’t seem to bother her too much.” He rolled his eyes. “Mind you, it didn’t seem to bother _Steve_ too much either so who knows really.”

“So what’s Russia’s game?” Stephen asked. “You did say you’d explain later.”

“Mostly politics from what I’ve been able to determine,” Tony said. “Point scoring over the US and things like that. If they can push the idea that Wanda’s still HYDRA then they can segue into discrediting Captain America and use that to poke at the US government. My guess is they’ll take the line that given the Avengers were a US based team populated almost entirely with Americans that the US government should have been overseeing us and that the mess in Lagos and Europe was their fault for not doing their job.”

“Why bother?” Stephen asked, looking a little dubious.

Tony snorted. “Because political point scoring is half of what international relations is all about. Also, I’m betting that Russia intends to unveil an enhanced team of their own and want to play the ‘our team is better than yours’ game. I’m also betting that Russia will also run with the ‘we can protect Europe, why leave it to the Americans, look at what they do’ line as well.”

Mordo leaned forward a little, a worried look on his face. “Is that going to cause trouble for us?”

“Probably,” Tony replied and though he sounded blithe, they could hear the serious tone underlying that. “I’ve had to up my timetable in regards to Ross. He’s our biggest problem and he’d love to use Russia’s play to try to gain some sort of control over us. I’ve been planning on pulling the rug out from under his feet for ages but I’ve had to move carefully so I didn’t tip him off. I’ll have to take a few risks.”

“Anything we can help with?” Stephen asked and Mordo nodded his agreement.

Tony opened his mouth then closed it again as he frowned thoughtfully. “Hmm, maybe. Let me look at what I need to do and I’ll get back to you.”

“Going back to Maximoff,” Mordo said as he leaned back in his chair again. “How did she end up as an Avenger? Nothing I’ve seen or read indicates why. And…” He huffed softly. “I’ll admit I wasn’t exactly a model student when I went to Kamar-Taj. I wanted revenge and came to the Mystic Arts to find the power to do that. But I learned better. I learned to conquer my demons and live a better life. There’s no indication Maximoff has done the same.”

Tony was silent, apparently concentrating solely on playing with the Cloak. Then the Cloak abruptly draped itself over him like a blanket and he sighed and stared up at the ceiling.

“It wasn’t my idea,” he said heavily. “I didn’t want her anywhere near me and it was part of the reason I stepped back. Steve was the one who pushed for her to become an Avenger and he barely listened to me _before_ the Ultron mess. He sure as hell wasn’t listening to me afterwards.”

“They blamed you for Ultron,” Mordo said. It was a guess but from the way Tony flinched he knew he’d the nail on the head. “Why? It’s quite clear from meeting Miss Friday and Vision, who I understand is based on a previous AI of yours, and your worker bots that creating murderous, genocidal AIs isn’t something you do.”

Tony had shifted so that he could stare at him, though the Cloak was more or less keeping him where he was. Mordo was a little worried at the startled and almost grateful look on Tony’s face, as though no one had ever said that to him before.

“Well, Ultron was my program,” Tony said slowly. “Mine and Bruce’s. But he wasn’t meant to be… _that_. He was going to be a… a suit of armour around the world for when the aliens came back. But we couldn’t get it to work. We couldn’t even get the interface to work, let alone anything else.”

“So where did the Ultron who attacked Sokovia come from?”

“The Mind Stone,” Tony said. “Thor had allowed us to examine the sceptre before he took it back to Asgard. Something happened while we weren’t in the lab. Somehow the sentience in the Mind Stone got into the Ultron system and created itself. It then stole the name presumably because it liked it.”

Mordo nodded slowly. “So Vision…?”

“Was created from Ultron, my AI JARVIS, Helen Cho’s Cradle and Thor’s… well, blessing, for lack of a better word.”

“I’m still not understanding why they blamed you for Ultron,” Mordo said.

Tony gave a sour and bitter huff. “I don’t know. Bruce was as much part of it as I was and they never blamed him.” His expression turned sour as well. “Then again, not even that lot are stupid enough to antagonise the Hulk and then Bruce took off afterwards so he wasn’t here.” Tony shifted, looking upset and angry. “And I still don’t know why Steve attacked me on Wanda’s word! Thor’s attack…” He extracted a hand from under the Cloak and waved it dismissively. “Thor’s attack, I don’t care about. Thor’s a hot head. Nice guy, good heart but he acts first and thinks only if he absolutely has to. And I don’t blame my honeybear for not coming to my rescue. Thor would have been just as likely to lash out right then and Rhodey’s just an ordinary human like me. He couldn’t take a punch from Thor any more than I could.”

“Wait,” Stephen said, one hand coming to rest on Tony’s chest. Mordo was absolutely certain Stephen hadn’t realised what he was doing. “They _attacked_ you?”

“Water under the bridge, Merlin,” Tony began but Stephen cut him off.

“No, it isn’t. They attacked you? For what reason?”

“Ultron,” Tony said with a shrug.

“But you’d told them you didn’t create him.”

Tony snorted. “They didn’t care. As I said, Thor’s a hothead and Steve…” He shook his head. “Steve’s always wanted to believe the worst about me. I guess he trusted Wanda’s word over mine because it was a great excuse to do that.”

Stephen looked outraged and Mordo could only agree with him. “And _why_ are we bringing these people back?” Stephen said with open distaste and disdain.

“Cannon fodder,” Tony said blandly, startling a laugh out of both Stephen and Mordo. He gave them a brief grin and continued, “No, literally that. I need warm bodies to throw at enemies in general and at this purple grape in particular until I can get a team of people whom I trust and who have the kind of abilities I think we’ll need against an interstellar force.”

“You don’t think we’ll need _them_ for this enemy of ours?” Mordo asked.

“No,” Tony replied, bluntly and without hesitation. “Well, not as such. I mean, I’m sure the grape’s going to bring some sort of army with him but unless they get to the ground, none of them are really of any help. Wanda might have been if she wasn’t batshit crazy but the rest… not so much.”

“You want to keep the battle off Earth?” Stephen said slowly, nodding his agreement.

“Absolutely,” Tony replied. “You saw the damage that was done in New York. I don’t want a repeat of that. Not here, not _anywhere_.”

Stephen shuddered and looked distressed for a moment. Tony, who had been looking up at him, saw that and his hand closed around the one on his chest.

“Stephen?”

Stephen grimaced and drew in a deep breath before letting it out slowly. “I was _in_ New York that day, working at the hospital. You saved my life.”

Tony looked a little pole-axed as though he’d _known_ his actions had saved people that day but it had never been _personal_ before. That this was the first time he was really grasping that he’d changed people’s lives that day. If he hadn’t flown the missile through the portal, Stephen would have died and never become a sorcerer and they wouldn’t be sitting here right now. Before he’d met Tony, Mordo might have wondered how someone could be so oblivious to the implications of his actions that day but he knew Tony well enough now to know that he was more inclined to concentrate on the lives he’d _failed_ to save than the ones he _did_ save. He made a mental note to mention that to the Ancient One. She was better at handling this sort of thing than he was.

“We could still do this without them,” Mordo said, distracting them. “Or at the very least without having them anywhere near you or having you have to put them up in your home.”

Tony looked amused. “I’m not a delicate princess who needs to be protected.”

“I know,” Mordo replied. “But they don’t deserve any special treatment.”

“I won’t be giving them special treatment,” Tony said. “Hence the prison aspect of their part of the Compound.”

Mordo had to concede the point on that score. He scowled anyway. “I don’t like it.”

“I’m not exactly in danger from them,” Tony pointed out. “And if they were to try and attack me again, they’d be in violation of the contract they’re going to have to sign.”

“I suppose we don’t have a choice.”

“Take it up with the Time Stone or Death or whoever else is behind this,” Tony replied. “Stephen saw them in what he was shown. They’re going to be there in some capacity. I’d just prefer it if it wasn’t preceded by people being hurt or killed.”

Mordo grunted and Tony looked amused again.

“Look, the pieces are falling into place for what I really want,” he said. “The Defenders are on board, I’ve got a meeting with Reed next week and Rhodey’s got his eye on a few more people that he’s going to reach out to. It’s going to take time to get this agreement through all the way and by the time that happens, everything regarding how the Avengers will be run will be set in stone. They won’t have a leg to stand on when they get back.”

“You seem very sure of that,” Mordo said.

Tony smirked mirthlessly. “Telling the Council about Death and that I’m her _Chosen One_ had an interesting effect. They’re all much more inclined to listen to me. Maybe they think if they piss me off, Death will come after them. I don’t know but I’m going to use it for as long as it lasts.”

Mordo cocked his head. “Have you tried speaking to her?”

Tony looked very taken aback. “I… didn’t even know that was a possibility.”

“I don’t know that it is either,” Mordo replied. “But it is worth trying.”

“I wouldn’t have to do any sort of magical mumbo-jumbo, would I?” 

Tony gave him a narrow-eyed look and Mordo wanted to laugh. For all that he had apparently accepted the concept of magic, he still didn’t like it much. Given he’d dealt with both Loki and Maximoff, Mordo didn’t blame the man but it did make things unintentionally hilarious every now and then.

“I suppose you could if you wanted to,” he said as blandly as he could manage. “But I’d imagine just asking first would be a start.” Tony gave him an irritated look that he could only chuckle at. “And I thought Stephen was stubborn about magic.”

Tony looked up at Stephen and seemed to realise for the first time just exactly what he was doing, lying in his lap like that. As Mordo watched, Tony seemed to debate moving or otherwise drawing attention to it then he just let it go.

“Were you stubborn?”

“The Ancient One did have to strand me on Everest in order to get it through my thick head that I didn’t need my hands to cast spells,” Stephen said dryly. “So, I’d say the answer to that is a solid maybe.”

Tony laughed and Mordo gave his fellow sorcerer a sly look. “And here I thought it was the shock of finding out you nearly altered the entirety of time the first time you used the Eye.”

“In my defence,” Stephen said, his tone going even drier. “What kind of books put the warnings _after_ the spells?”

“Ones that assume you’re going to read the whole thing _before_ you start casting high level spells,” Mordo countered.

Stephen smirked. “Where’s the fun in that?” he said and laughed when Tony said the same thing in almost perfect unison.

Mordo shook his head at them. “You are both menaces of the highest order.” He looked back down at the tablet as he sobered again. “So, they are to be confined and contained… and when they discover this?”

“Who cares?” Tony said with a shrug. “One of the conditions of their return is that they’re to be confined to the Compound by whatever means the Council deems necessary. The Council deems this necessary.”

“There’ll be trouble,” Mordo predicted.

Tony snorted. “With that lot? Always.” He shrugged. “If they don’t like it, they can take their chances on their own and if they break the law, they’ll be treated accordingly.”

Mordo considered that for a moment. “Fair enough.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, just to explain, Stephen has seen the Rogues in the end game that the Time Stone showed him a few chapters ago. Not with any detail about what they're doing, just that they're there. Tony's unimpressed but has decided to control the situation - thus he's negotiating for a controlled return. There are people in the UN who would rather throw the Rogues in prison but they'll accept house arrest at the Compound as a compromise under the circumstances. So I guess Wanda's going to discover what it's really like to be confined to her room. :D


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony has a chat with Death and then a chat with Stephen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, HI! OMG. It's been far too long. I am sorry. I got horrendously sick. Nothing major, just this horrible cold that's going around that just knocked me to the ground for about 3 weeks. And I was still coughing for another week after that. Needless to say, my muses abandoned ship for a while there. I don't blame them. If I could have jumped ship, I'd have done it as well. That cold was miserable. I've actually had this chapter ready for a bit but after I recovered from my cold, I had a weird bout of... well, I don't know what to call it other than 'posting block'. I'd open things up to post the chapter and then just... not do it. For no apparent reason. It's been a weird couple of months.

Tony leaned back in his chair in the workshop and stared into nothing. He’d spoken to the Ancient One about the wisdom of trying to talk to Death and she’d been… cautiously encouraging. She certainly didn’t seem to think it was a _bad_ idea, though she did advise him that he might not like the answers he got if he asked her questions. Tony did hesitate at that thought but in the end, his curiosity was driving him up the wall and while Stephen had answers for many of Tony’s questions, this was something he couldn’t answer.

The Ancient One had also told him that there was no magical ritual to perform or spell he needed to cast to summon Death. She’d looked inscrutable for a moment then told him that he was linked to Death in a way she couldn’t describe and that if he asked to speak to her, she would most likely respond. That had given Tony the heebie-jeebies but only for a day or two before his curiosity overwhelmed him again. Stephen had offered to be here as well but Tony had decided to do this alone. The Ancient One was right in that he probably wasn’t going to like some of the answers he got – if he got any at all – and he’d rather assimilate them on his own before he told anyone else.

“Alright,” he said with a gusty breath. “Here goes nothing. Lady Death? I, uh, was wondering if we could speak.”

Nothing happened and Tony winced, wondering if he was being an idiot. 

“Lady Death?”

He sucked in a sharp breath when the air on the other side of the room began to slowly coalesce into something solid. At first he was reminded of the way Squidward had arrived but then he could see there was something fundamentally different about this time. Here was no bulging of the air and Death, when she appeared, did so slowly and almost leisurely, as though she was allowing him to get used to what he was seeing. 

And what he was seeing was unusual. He’d thought Death would look like a skeleton in black robes, maybe even with a scythe, but instead she appeared as a middle-aged, somewhat severe looking woman, wearing a Victorian style black dress and her silver hair caught up in a tight bun at the back of her head. The only really creepy thing about her was her eyes, which were entirely black and fathomless. In fact, once Tony had a chance to really take her in, she looked not dissimilar to his mother. It was a surprisingly comforting image.

“Uh, hi,” he said rather awkwardly.

Death laughed and Tony shuddered. There was something about that laugh. Not evil but dark in an incomprehensible sort of way. He figured that made sense. Death was a natural part of life – for most people anyway – but it wasn’t always a pleasant thing. Or something that was easy to understand.

“Hello, Anthony,” she said with a kind of austere kindness.

Tony swallowed and then gave a harsh bark of laughter. “Now I don’t know what to ask you.”

Death looked amused. “You want to know why I manipulated your life.”

Tony licked his lips. “Well, yeah, I guess I did.”

Death sighed. “Because was necessary. You are needed.”

Tony stared at her and swallowed. “Needed for what?”

“To defeat a great enemy.”

“That purple grape guy,” Tony said and was rewarded with a look of blank confusion from Death that would have made him laugh if he wasn’t sure that if he started laughing, he might not stop for a while.

“Thanos,” Death said dryly. “Thanos is your enemy.”

“So who was it that killed me a few weeks ago.” Tony paused. “Not Rogers and his bestest buddy but after that.”

“That was Ebony Maw,” Death replied. “One of Thanos’ Children.”

Tony frowned. “So why was he killing…” He fell silent and looked at Death. “He came from after…. whatever it was you did.”

Death smiled faintly. “Yes, I believe he did.”

“He wanted revenge.”

“Yes.”

“So I win?”

“Not necessarily,” Death replied. “The future is… always opaque to a greater or lesser extent. He came from a future where you won. Whether you end up in that future is up to you.”

“Right.” Tony ran a hand down his face. “So what do I have to do?”

“Defeat Thanos.”

“Yeah, I got that,” Tony said dryly. “I don’t suppose you can tell me how?”

Death raised an eyebrow at him. “I think you already know the answer to that.”

Tony sighed. “It was worth asking.” He cocked his head. “So… am I the Merchant of Death?”

Death laughed that unsettling laugh again. “No, you never were.” Her tone was almost kind. “I do have those who could be counted as Merchants of Death as I understand the term but you were never one.”

Tony felt like a weight he hadn’t known was there was lifted off his shoulders. “I wasn’t?”

“You have never enjoyed killing,” Death said calmly. “Or even merely taken satisfaction in it. You have killed only when you have had no choice and you always regret it once the heat of battle is done. You didn’t even seek to kill the one who had betrayed you in that frozen place in Siberia. You sought to hurt him as you had been hurt but you did not seek to kill him.”

Tony couldn’t stay still anymore and he lurched to his feet, pacing across the workshop. “You know that.”

“I do,” Death said with that ineffable calm. “As do you. All those weapons you had access to and you used none of them to lethal effect.”

“I blew off Barnes’ arm,” Tony said almost belligerently.

“But not his head,” Death replied.

“I thought about it.”

Death laughed again. “No, you didn’t. You, of all people, are able to recognise a weapon when you see one and that was what you saw on that video – a weapon being used to kill your parents.”

Tony shuddered and turned away. “Do you…?” He broke off and gasped for breath. “Can I… see them?”

“It doesn’t work that way, Anthony,” Death said almost gently.

Tony whirled around. “Why not?” he demanded.

“Because then everyone would ask me for that,” Death replied.

Tony’s jaw worked for a moment. “But everyone isn’t. I am.”

Death held him in her regard for a long time then finally shook her head. “They are gone, Anthony.” She glided over to him and he had to work hard not to back away. Finally she reached out. “You must learn to listen to what your heart…” She tapped his chest where the arc reactor had once been. “…tells you, not what your head does.”

Tony licked his lips. “I thought it was supposed to be the other way around.”

Death looked amused. “Your head tells you that the last words you said to your parents was all they remembered of you when they died. Your heart, should you choose to listen to it, will tell you the truth. You were their son. They loved you. A few sullen words said in anger were never going to change how they felt about you.”

Tony bowed his head and Death glided away to inspect what was on the various benches. 

“So what now?” Tony said after several minutes had passed.

Death turned to look at him, her fathomless regard as unnerving as ever. “You work to defeat Thanos.”

Tony cocked his head. “Why do you want Thanos dead?”

Death paused and for a moment she seemed to shimmer and Tony drew in a sharp breath. Just for a moment, instead of the middle-aged Victorian woman, there had been a skeleton dressed in black. He was suddenly very sure that the woman he was seeing was a guise put on just for him, perhaps to set him at his ease. He honestly couldn’t say which image of Death was less terrifying.

“He seeks to upset the balance of the universe,” she said, her voice resounding in a way that made the hair on the back of Tony’s neck stand up. “He wishes to destroy half of all life in the misguided opinion that it will impress me. If he succeeds, he will tear the universe apart and all will die.”

Tony stared at her for a moment. “Right. So… no pressure or anything.”

Death gave him a rather wintery little smile then glided over to him again. She was very unnerving close up but he managed to not lean away from her, even when she reached out and tapped his chest again.

“You should consider implementing your last chance protocol,” she said.

Tony did flinch back a little at that, one hand rising to rest against his chest where the scar from the arc reactor was. “How the hell do you know about that?”

“I know a great many things,” she said with another of those wintery smiles. “Think about it. You might find it advantageous.”

Before Tony could gather his wits to ask a question, Death gave him a small nod and faded into nothing. He lurched forward as though he could stop her then slumped back in his seat, his hand still hovering protectively over his chest.

“Boss?” FRIDAY said into the ensuing quiet.

“Did you get any of that?” Tony asked, sitting up a little.

FRIDAY hesitated. “Only your side of it, boss. My cameras and audio sensors didn’t pick up anyone else in the room.”

“Great,” Tony groused. “So I actually have no idea whether I saw what I saw or whether I hallucinated it.”

“You’re not prone to hallucinations,” FRIDAY replied. “So I think you’re safe.”

Tony sighed and scrubbed his face with one hand. “I’m not even sure if it was helpful or not.”

“Perhaps Doctor Strange could help you with that?”

Tony contemplated that for a moment. “Yeah, maybe. See if the good doctor is available.”

He tapped his fingers against his chest as he waited for FRIDAY to put the call through. He realised what he was doing and pulled his hand away just as the nearest screen flashed and a screen opened. Stephen looked faintly irritated and Tony wondered if it was at him.

“Is this a good time, Merlin?”

Stephen grimaced and sighed. “A perfect time actually.”

Tony raised his eyebrows. “Everything okay?”

“It’s fine,” Stephen snapped then he sighed and waved a hand. “Sorry. It’s nothing to do with you. Wong just likes being enigmatic and cryptic when he doesn’t have to be.”

Tony relaxed a little and shrugged. “I suppose a man has to get his entertainment somehow.”

Stephen chuckled and Tony saw his shoulders take on a less tense line. “I think he does it because he knows it annoys me.”

“Well,” Tony said with a sudden grin. “I know _I_ would.”

Stephen snorted. “Of course you would.” His gaze sharpened a little. “What’s happened?”

“I, uh… I decided to have a chat with Death.”

He suddenly had Stephen’s undivided attention and found that it wasn’t the most comfortable thing.

“How did it go?”

Tony shrugged. “She was enigmatic and cryptic.”

Stephen looked amused. “What did she say?”

“That the purple grape’s name is Thanos and he wants to destroy half of all life in the universe.”

Stephen paled. “If he does that…”

“Bad things will happen, yeah.” Tony grimaced. “Death was pretty blunt about that. If he succeeds, he’ll tear the universe apart and everyone will die.”

“He’ll tear the _multiverse_ apart,” Stephen countered. “The multiverse exists in a delicate balance. If our dimension is destroyed then dimensions that connect to ours will be torn asunder as well and that will cause a domino effect throughout the entire multiverse.”

Tony stared at him for a moment. “Right,” he said faintly. “So no pressure or anything.”

Stephen hesitated for a moment. “You know that I… that _we_ will be here for you.”

“Yeah, I know,” Tony said with a weak smile.

“What else did she say?” Stephen asked.

“Squidward… the one who came and killed me before I came to see you?” Tony said then continued when Stephen nodded. “His name is Ebony Maw, according to Death, and he came from a future where I win.”

“So there is hope,” Stephen said.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“And he may be back,” Stephen continued. “If he had the idea in one future where you won then he may have the same idea in other futures where you win. Or even in the same future if he realises that he failed.”

“I like your enthusiasm,” Tony said dryly. “That you see multiple futures where I win.”

“I could check?” Stephen offered.

Tony frowned as he thought about that. On one hand, it might be good to know that there are multiple possible ways he could win. On the other hand, there was always the risk that there weren’t multiple ways. That were was only one or two. That… wasn’t something he really wanted to know. Besides…

“You’re assuming the Time Stone will let you know that,” he said dryly. “Didn’t you say it’s keeping secrets as well as everyone else involved in this damn thing?”

“That is true but it might give me a hint.”

Tony shook his head. “Nah, I think I’ll wing it. It usually works for me.”

Stephen gave him an arch look. “If you say so.”

Tony was silent for a moment before he blurted out, “She says I should put the arc reactor back in my chest.”

Stephen blinked and his gaze flickered down towards Tony’s chest before coming back to look him in the eyes. “Did she say why?”

Tony shook his head. “No, she just said I should use my last chance protocol.”

“And what precisely _is_ your last chance protocol?”

Tony grimaced and tapped his fingers against the table. “I’m going to assume she’s not making that suggestion lightly and that it will actually make a difference so… I think you, the Ancient One, Mordo and Wong should come over. I’ll want to get Rhodey, Pepper and Happy in on this as well, since they’re my medical proxies, my company proxies and, well, my everything proxies and if I do this then we’re going to need to have a strategy just in case it all goes pear-shaped.”

“Tony…” Stephen said, looking worried.

Tony sighed. “I’m… possibly making it sound more dramatic than it actually is. Or maybe not. My ability to judge drama has never been very good.” He drew in a breath then let it out. “Anyway, let me find out when Pep, Rhodey and Happy are available and I’ll get back to you.”

Stephen nodded slowly, looking very concerned. “Tony… just remember that I _am_ still a medical doctor, even if I can’t operate anymore.”

“You’re a neurosurgeon,” Tony said.

“Still a doctor.”

Tony licked his lips and nodded. “Yeah, I know. Look, let’s not blow things out of proportion just yet. There’s plenty of time for that later.”

Stephen snorted then nodded. “Fine. I’ll let the others know you want to have a meeting. I suspect the Ancient One will want to talk to you some more about what Death had to say to you.”

“Might not be a bad idea,” Tony replied. “I think I might actually have some questions for her by then.”

They exchanged a few more pleasantries and then Tony ended the call. He leaned back in his chair and stared into nothing for a moment before clapping his hands and straightening up.

“Call Pep, FRI,” he said. “Let’s get this show on the road.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony explains his plan to his family and friends. It goes better than he expected.

Tony looked around the gathered group of people and actually felt a little nervous. In the wake of the ‘civil war’, as the media had coined it, Tony had re-evaluated a lot of his personal relationships. It was amazing the kind of clarity getting a shield to the chest and then dying because of that could provide. Not that he’d known he’d died at the time but the point still stood. Beyond his slightly awkward but mostly relieving conversation with Pepper about their relationship, he hadn’t really talked about it with anyone, though the various conversations he’d had regarding what was going to happen with Rogers and his merry band of morons when they came back had probably given them enough indication what direction his enforced self-reflection had taken him.

Siberia had taught him that he needed to guard himself more. That he needed to pick his friends more carefully. Or in other words, he needed to listen to Pepper and Happy more because neither of those two had ever been entirely happy with how much of himself he’d given to the Avengers. Rhodey had been less inclined to be wary but then again, the team tended to act a little differently when he was around. More… professional. More straight backs and less dysfunctional faux family. Rhodey tended to have that effect when he was being professional. The perks of being in the military for over twenty years.

He should have seen it then, should have grasped that the difference in behaviour wasn’t healthy but… he hadn’t really been around that much after Ultron. 

But that was water under the bridge and a lesson learned in a very painful way. He’d never really been good with people on a personal level but he’d thought he’d learned enough over the years not to be blindsided. Apparently he’d been wrong. So these days he’d started to use Pepper, Happy and Rhodey as something of a litmus test for any new people who came into his life. He was fairly sure they knew what he was doing but they hadn’t said anything, much to his endless relief, and had simply found ways to show their approval or otherwise in subtle ways. 

That was why he’d been willing to trust the sorcerers. He’d been inclined to after his first meeting but he’d held back his final judgement until he’d gotten them into the same room with Pepper, Happy and Rhodey. It had been their liking and approval that had allowed him to relax and let the sorcerers in past his newly built defences.

“Right,” he said, drawing everyone’s attention. “So I guess I’d better get this show on the road.”

“What’s this all about, Tony?” Pepper said with a frown. Not a bad frown, just a concerned frown. “You said you wanted Happy, Jim and myself here in our capacity as your proxies.”

“Yeah,” Tony replied. He swallowed then forged ahead. “I spoke with Death.”

Thankfully, he _had_ kept Pepper, Happy and Rhodey in the loop regarding his unique relationship with Death and his curiosity about speaking with her so they weren’t surprised. Their worry did, however, increase a little.

“She was forthright about some things and really cryptic about others,” he said before anyone could say anything. “And kind of in the middle about others.”

“What did she say?” the Ancient One asked, her expression serene. “Stephen told me some of it but I’d like to hear it from you.”

“Our enemy is Thanos and the guy who came and killed me a few weeks ago is a… follower of Thanos called Ebony Maw,” Tony said. “Well, she called him… it… ugh, I don’t know. She called Ebony Maw one of Thanos’ Children. I don’t know what that means but I don’t think it’s literal.”

“It could be, in its way,” the Ancient One said.

“He views them as his children?” Pepper suggested.

The Ancient One nodded. “Or he uses that term to keep them close. Who wouldn’t like to be consider the child of someone so powerful?” She cocked her head slightly and looked at Tony. “Stephen told me what Thanos plans to do. We must stop him.”

“Yeah, I figured,” Tony said dryly. “She wasn’t too forthcoming on how to do that though. But that wasn’t what I wanted to talk to all of you about.” He paused for a moment. “She suggested I enact my last chance protocol.”

The others all looked at him blankly then Pepper leaned forward. “Tony… what _is_ that?”

Tony grimaced. “Not something I ever intended to use, hence why it was called the last chance protocol. FRIDAY was only meant to pull it out if there was no other option.” He rubbed his chest. “If I hadn’t died in Siberia and been put back to rights by Death with nothing more than a lot of bruising, I might have had to use it based on how I remember my chest feeling.”

“Tones,” Rhodey said with a certain amount of resignation. “It’s Extremis, isn’t it?”

“I stabilised it for Pepper,” Tony said with a small nod. “Then… well, you know me. I couldn’t help but keep working on it whenever I needed the distraction. Then when I couldn’t get it to do what I wanted, I incorporated some of the nanotech I’ve been working on and…” he waved a hand and screens appeared in front of everyone that detailed the protocol. “I kind of got creative.”

He watched as they all read through the information on the screens. Rhodey was the first one to get it, which Tony had known would happen. People always forgot that Rhodey was a _literal_ rocket scientist. That they’d met at MIT and not because the military had assigned Rhodey as his liaison. Or rather that the military had assigned Rhodey as his liaison _because_ they’d been at MIT together.

Stephen was the next to get it and again, Tony wasn’t surprised. He’d looked up Doctor Stephen Strange after their first meeting and knew the man was a genius in his own right. Besides he knew the medical side and from there, it was probably easy enough to extrapolate and work out enough of the technical side of things to understand.

“You intend to put the arc reactor back. I know you said so but… I didn’t realise the full implications,” Stephen said flatly. “The issues from the housing alone…”

“Would largely be mitigated by extremis and its associated nanotech,” Tony said, giving him an apologetic look for the interruption. “I always assumed I needed the arc reactor to give the energy the nanotech would need so they don’t eat me alive. And before you ask, I need the nanotech to make extremis work the way I want it to.” He paused. “Besides, I got the distinct impression Death wasn’t really interested in the extremis and nanotech side of the protocol.”

“The arc reactor,” Rhodey said slowly. “You told me it stopped Loki’s staff from working.”

“And Loki’s staff held the Mind Stone,” Tony said with a nod.

“What is the arc reactor?” the Ancient One asked, leaning forward with a curious expression.

“I’m going to answer what I think you’re asking rather than state the obvious,” Tony said slowly. “It’s an energy source that Dad based on his studies of the tesseract. Which, according to Thor, contains an infinity stone, the Space Stone.”

The Ancient One and Stephen exchanged a measured look. “And the arc reactor in your chest protected you from the Mind Stone?” she asked.

Tony nodded. “During the invasion, Loki tried his little mind control thing on me with the sceptre and the Mind Stone. It didn’t work. Then I made a joke about performance issues and he threw me out a window so it kind of got lost in the shuffle, so to speak.”

There were smiles and chuckles and Rhodey shook his head with a grin. “Only you, Tones, would make dick jokes to an invading god.”

“I was hardly going to do anything else,” Tony said with a grin.

The Ancient One was watching them all with amusement. “I would like to examine one of these arc reactors, Tony. It would be valuable to understand how its energy works. Clearly, Death believes that you may need it for some reason.”

“Yeah, she didn’t exactly elaborate on why but I’m guessing the protection angle,” Tony said. He took a deep breath and let it out again. “Which I’m also guessing means that we might be able to use it for some form of larger protection and maybe even some sort of weapon.”

“That was my thought,” the Ancient One said with a nod. “Though I was leaning more towards containment. Based on what Stephen has been able to glean out of the things the Time Stone showed him, being able to contain Thanos might be just as valuable.”

“Huh,” Tony said. “I’ll put that on the list.”

“Tony,” Pepper said hesitantly. “This… the risks…”

Tony grimaced. “I know, Pep,” he said gently. “And if Death hadn’t brought it up, I probably wouldn’t have gone near it but… Death was pretty adamant that it was me who was the key to defeating Thanos and she was also pretty clear about what happens if we fail. If the price of success is me being a little more enhanced than I ever wanted to be and having the arc reactor back then…” He shrugged. “It’s a price I’m willing to pay, to be perfectly honest.”

“Why is it always _you_ who pays the price?” Pepper said and it was the bitterness in her voice that caught Tony by surprise.

“Pep,” he said a little helplessly.

She rose to her feet and hurriedly walked away towards the kitchen. Tony started to get up to follow but to his surprise, it was the Ancient One who waved him back into his seat.

“Let me speak to her.”

Tony watched, worry coursing through him, as the Ancient One followed Pepper into the kitchen. They made a rather incongruous pair. The contrast between Pepper’s long red hair and impeccable business suit and the Ancient One’s bald head and saffron robes would have been funny if the situation wasn’t so serious. But whatever the Ancient One was saying to her seemed to be working. He could see the way Pepper’s shoulders were relaxing and then she sighed and nodded. The Ancient One smiled kindly then said something that drew a small laugh from Pepper and the two women came back to the living room.

“Sorry about that,” Pepper said as she sat down.

“Pepper…” Tony began. “I…”

She shook her head. “It’s okay, Tony. I don’t like it but…” She drew in a breath then let it out again. “I understand and I’ll support you however I can.”

Tony watched her for a little longer then nodded and settled down.

“When do you want to do this?” Rhodey asked.

“I’ll need to contact Dr Wu and Dr Helen Cho and see if they’ll do this,” Tony said. “I… trust them. Then we’ll need to coordinate with them, sort out things for SI and the Accords and get everything ready with the arc reactor and the nanites.” He grimaced and did some mental calculations. “Depending on Dr Wu and Helen’s availability, perhaps in a month?”

“I’d like to be involved,” Stephen said. He grimaced as he glanced down at his hands. “I know I can’t do anything… practical but I’d like to be involved anyway.”

Tony looked at Stephen’s hands then quickly looked away. He’d never really commented on the scars and tremors that wracked Stephen’s hands. Stephen had told him the story of how they’d been damaged and what he’d done in the search for a cure but other than that, the man never really wanted to talk about them. He knew that Stephen experienced chronic pain, especially when he was in New York and the weather changed, and that the tremors were a perpetual bane whenever he wanted to do anything that required even a fraction of fine motor control. His actual range of motion was pretty good but that was the one small shining light in a pretty shitty situation. 

While there was nothing Tony could do about the chronic pain, he had been working on some sort of brace or framework to help with the tremors but he hadn’t known how to bring it up with the other man. He _liked_ Stephen. A lot. More than was probably really wise given his shitty track record with relationships. But there it was. He liked Stephen and the last thing he wanted to do was alienate him by offering something that was viewed as pity or condescending or any of the other horror stories his brain conjured. But maybe he could run it past Helen if she was willing to come and work with him. She’d have a better idea of how practical his brace was and how he could approach Stephen about it.

“Yeah, okay,” he said with a nod and a small smile at Stephen. 

The Ancient One caught his eye then uncharacteristically hesitated before speaking. “I know you have an understandable… aversion to magic but would you perhaps consider allowing us to add a little extra to your plan?”

Tony forced down the shudder that was threatening. “What kind of extra?” he said warily.

“A little extra protection against magic users,” the Ancient One replied. “Something you can control so that if you wish for someone to use magic on you, they can but otherwise it will be a buttress against any attacks.”

“Like, from Wanda?” he said.

“Yes and from this Ebony Maw,” the Ancient One said. “I cannot guarantee that we would be able to incorporate our magic into your arc reactor but would you at least allow us to explore it?”

Tony hesitated then nodded. “Yeah, okay. I can get you an arc reactor to test things out on.”

“I believe Wong might be the best person to do this,” the Ancient One said, giving the man in question a querying look.

Wong nodded. “I’ll have a look and see what we can do, especially if we can set up something independent of any of us. Something that draws from the arc reactor itself.”

“Better make it something that could survive the arc reactor being changed out,” Tony said, a little reluctantly, though his interest was being caught by what they were saying. “If it gets damaged or I have to draw on a lot of power or I come up with a better design, I may need to change it out.”

Wong looked intrigued. “Interesting. Perhaps something in the housing or this framework you’ve designed.” 

“Engraving of some type?” Mordo said hesitantly. He looked like he didn’t entirely approve but that he liked Tony too much to say no.

“That was my thought,” Wong said. “Engrave the spell components into the metal then they’ll be permanent.” He looked over at Tony. “What kind of metal are you using for the framework?”

Tony froze then licked his lips. “Ah, it’s a… unique alloy. Vibranium, a bit of steel and titanium, a few other things.”

Wong and the other sorcerers looked a bit confused at Tony’s odd reaction but Rhodey suddenly laughed.

“Yeah, Tones, that sounds like a damn good kind of metal to use.”

“Would someone like to explain?” Stephen said dryly.

“Rogers left the shield behind after he beat me down badly enough to apparently die,” Tony said sourly. “The shield never belonged to him. My Dad made it and loaned it to Rogers. So it’s mine. And I’ve found a better use for it.”

“It’s a strong metal alloy from what I understand,” the Ancient One said. Her tone was bland but there was a strong sense of mischief lurking in her eyes. “And has some unique properties that will be quite useful.”

“Since it’s going to be bracing most of my rib cage, its properties are _very_ useful,” Tony said. The sour tone was still there but the Ancient One’s mischief was catching and there was a smile playing at the edges of his lips.

Mordo gave an approving nod. “It’s a good use for it. Giving it back would be…” He snorted. “You don’t reward someone for their bad behaviour.”

“And it’s about damn time he learned that actions have consequences,” Rhodey added firmly.

The last of Tony’s sourness faded in the face of the approval from those whose opinions he actually cared about. He relaxed and turned the conversation to everything that needed to be done to make this plan work.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Death, meditation and metaphysics. All in a day's work for Tony Stark.

“She’s got really neat handwriting,” Tony said in lieu of everything else that was going through his mind.

Stephen had portalled into the Tower about an hour ago with several pages of notes from the Ancient One and Wong about the magic that they were offering to bolster what he was doing with Extremis. Wong had apparently worked out the spell itself and the Ancient One had figured out how to make it work by etching it permanently into the metal that would be attached to his ribs and form the base and housing for the arc reactor. The end result was elegant and oddly beautiful, especially for something that would never be seen once it was installed.

“She said she learned to write in a time when poor handwriting resulted in severe punishment,” Stephen said dryly. “I have no idea whether she was serious or not.”

Tony flicked a glance at him. “How old is she exactly?”

“You never ask a woman her age,” Stephen said with open amusement. “Mind you, I did ask once and she got all mystical and cryptic so my guess is older than you think.”

“So magic makes you immortal?”

Stephen shook his head. “No, it doesn’t. Not normally anyway. There are ways to use magic to make yourself immortal but those books are extremely restricted.”

“Some sort of dark magic?”

“I’m not sure,” Stephen said with a frown. “I think some ways are but some ways aren’t but either way, it’s sort of frowned upon. Not necessarily wrong but you’d better have a good reason for it.”

Tony raised an eyebrow. “So what’s the Ancient One’s reason?”

“She’s waiting for something or someone.”

“Who?”

Tony was surprised when Stephen shifted uncomfortably. “Me, I think. Remember how I told you that she should have died but all of this changed that?” Tony nodded and he continued. “I don’t remember all the details. I’m not sure whether it’s because of the Time Stone or because it didn’t happen but should have but I’ve seen glimpses of what should have been her death. The impression I got was that she was waiting for me. Or rather for the next Sorcerer Supreme, which was meant to be me.” He paused. “Will be me when she finally does die.”

“If she’s immortal…” Tony began. “Ah, can’t die but can be killed kind of immortality?”

Stephen nodded. “Only she doesn’t have Death bringing her back to life. She’s said that she knows she shouldn’t be here. That she feels it.”

Tony frowned. “She’s not going to commit suicide or anything, is she?”

“No,” Stephen said hastily. “I don’t think that’s really her style but I think, once this is all done, she’ll… sever the connection to whatever it is that’s keeping her alive.”

“Do you know what that is?” Tony asked.

Stephen was silent for a moment. “I think I did. Did I mention anything to you when I told you?”

Tony thought back to that day then shook his head. “Not really. Just that she died and Mordo became disillusioned and left.”

“That’s what I thought,” Stephen said with a grimace. “I can’t remember _why_ Mordo became disillusioned, only that it had something to do with the Ancient One. I suspect it may have something to do with how she’s keeping herself alive but I don’t really want to go digging.”

“Why not?”

Stephen stared out of the window for a moment. “Because I think the first time round, I handled it badly. I thought I knew everything and I was angry at… something. So I aimed verbal daggers at people and I hurt Mordo. I… pulled the foundations of his life out from underneath him and gave him nothing to replace them.”

“Stephen, you know that’s not on you,” Tony said slowly. “I mean, yeah, okay, it is a little but he was the one who built his foundations like that. It was probably always going to come crashing down at some point.”

“But I knew that,” Stephen replied. “I knew he idolised her and held her up as his role model. And I was angry at him as well as her so I lashed out in a way that would hurt both of them.”

“Have you talk to them about it?”

“The Ancient One, I have,” Stephen replied. “She advised me not to mention it to Mordo and she’s admitted that she should have been working with him to build more sustainable foundations. She’s doing that now.”

Tony sighed and walked over to sit next to Stephen. He leaned into him a little then swallowed his sigh of relief when he felt Stephen relax a little

“I’m pretty crap at personal relationships,” he admitted ruefully. “They tend to crash and burn, mostly because of me.”

“And yet, haven’t you known Pepper, Happy and James for years?” Stephen said with a raised eyebrow.

“I met Rhodey at MIT,” Tony admitted. “Pepper at SI when she barged into my office to point out the mistakes in my maths. And Happy kind of rescued me when I was in my twenties.”

“So you _can_ do personal relationship,” Stephen replied.

Tony shrugged then his nervous energy had him up and pacing. “Well, those ones I can. I suppose.” He waved a hand. “Anyway, what I was saying was that I’m pretty crap at personal relationships but I do know that if the friendship is meant to be, it’ll stick even through the shit.” He smiled wryly. “Rhodey, for example, has put up with a lot of my shit.”

Tony turned to look at Stephen and just as he did, the air behind him bulged and seemed to tear open. A woman with grey skin and horns stepped out, snarled and drove the spear in her hands through Tony’s chest. Tony arched, his eyes wide with surprise and shock, then he crumpled when the woman yanked the spear back out. Stephen shook off his own shock but before he could do more than start moving his hands, the woman smirked at him and stepped back through the rip in the air. It closed behind him and in the silence it left behind, Tony’s last gurgling breaths were loud and horrifying.

Stephen lurched forward and fell to his knees beside Tony but there was nothing he could do. Just as he grabbed hold of Tony’s shoulders, the man jerked and then went still, his last breath escaping in a soft sigh. Stephen fell back onto his heels and sat down on the floor, staring at Tony with shock and a deep, desperate hope. He’d heard the story of Tony’s second death, the one that had occurred in this very room in this very tower, from Pepper and Rhodes and now he found himself in their position, though at least he had the certainty that Tony was _not_ truly dead.

As if to confirm that, the air around Tony shimmered and the gaping, terrible wound in his chest closed and healed. Tony jerked again and coughed then his eyes flew open and he swore. Stephen slumped back until he was sitting on the floor and he scrubbed his face with one hand.

“Tony,” he said with open relief.

“ _Fuck me_ ,” Tony said with an angry fervency as he struggled to sit up. Once he had done that, he plucked at his now bloodstained shirt and the gaping hole in it. “What the hell? Was it the same one?”

“No, boss,” FRIDAY said at the same time as Stephen shook his head.

“This was a woman,” Stephen said. He stopped and frowned. “I… know her. I saw her in the visions the Time Stone gave me.” His frown deepened and he sought her name in the memories that weren’t always his to access. “Proxima Midnight. Yes, that’s her name.”

Tony snorted. “Ebony Maw. Proxima Midnight. Is the next one going to be called Ebony Raven Dark'ness Dementia Way?”

“What?” Stephen said, rather baffled by the reference.

Tony waved a hand with a rather sheepish smile. “Nevermind. I don’t think I want to explain that one.” He stretched a little. “Ow. Fuck. That hurts.”

Stephen jerked forward, his hand automatically reaching out to begin a physical examination as he’d done with patients before his accident. “Are you injured?”

Tony batted very, very gently at his hands. “I’m fine. It’s just… phantom ache, you know?”

“You’re not hurt?” Stephen said then withdrew his hands when Tony shook his head. “Did you speak to Death?”

Tony shook his head. “She was there, I think. I saw… something then I was back here.”

“What did you see?”

“Just a figure standing over me,” Tony replied. “I’m pretty sure it was her but she didn’t feel the need to have a chat. Just sent me straight back.” He rubbed at his chest with a frown. “You’d think if she was going to bring me back, she could make it hurt less.”

Stephen smirked a little. “Maybe it’s a reminder to be more careful in the future.”

Tony pouted at him. “Not sure how I’m supposed to avoid people coming out of rifts behind me.” He raised an eyebrow. “It was some kind of rift, wasn’t it?”

Stephen nodded and then frowned. “It was and yet… I felt nothing before it opened. That shouldn’t…” 

He paused then pulled out his sling ring and opened a portal into what looked like a library. Wong and the Ancient One were standing at a table, reading a book. Wong looked up at the portal and sighed.

“Stephen, what have I told you about portals in the library?”

“That I shouldn’t do it,” Stephen said innocently. “I was looking for the Ancient One.”

“And you have found me,” she said, looking between Stephen and Wong with amusement. “What is so urgent that you felt the need to ruffle Wong’s feathers?”

“Tony died again,” Stephen said, gaining their immediately and absolute attention, all bickering falling to the wayside. “It was a woman this time. I remember her a little from the Time Stone’s memories. Proxima Midnight.” He waved a hand. “But that’s a sideline… I didn’t feel the rift or portal she used before it opened.”

The Ancient One stepped around the table and then through the portal. She gestured for Stephen to close it again. “How curious,” she said thoughtfully. “A rift in both space and time should have screamed out to your senses, no matter how distracted you might have been.”

Tony was surprised when Stephen flushed a little and refused to meet his eyes. A glance over at the Ancient One showed that her amusement was back, though it had a distinctly sly edge to it. It made his breath catch for just a second as his mind came up with a possible answer to all of that, which he immediately rejected because he couldn’t be right.

The Ancient One turned to him and her amusement deepened for just a moment before she became serious once again. “Tony, would you permit us to put some wards up in your apartment and workshop?”

Tony raised an eyebrow. “What kind of wards?”

“Protection ones,” she replied. “To try and keep them out but failing that, to record some trace of what they are using to open these rifts.” She paused then continued dryly, “While Death has a vested interest in ensuring you survive, I think we would like to refrain from prevailing on her goodwill as much as we can.”

“Well, yeah, I’d like that,” Tony said, equally dryly. “I’m a bit over dying, thank you very much.”

Stephen shook his head. “You say that so casually. And I probably should have spoken to you first?”

Tony waved his semi-apology away. “Nah, it’s fine. I know nothing about magic so if these rifts opening is an issue, I’ll take your word for it.” He nodded to the Ancient One. “And yes, put up those wards, though I’d like to be there when you do the workshop ones. Make sure they don’t interfere with my work.”

The Ancient One inclined her head and began to work. Tony was surprised when she started to ask questions about the notes she’d sent while she was doing that. He was impressed with her ability to multitask but assumed it was because she was so old and experienced in her magic. So he answered her questions and when she was finally done, they sat down at one of the benches in the workshop and looked at the plans for the arc reactor mooring. 

“You seem disquieted,” the Ancient One said gently.

Tony sighed. “I just… I know it’s for the best but it’s not exactly fun having that thing in my chest. Extremis will mitigate a lot of the worst effects and the redesigned housing is as good as it’s going to get with today’s technology but still… it’s intrusive, often uncomfortable and brings back a lot of shitty memories.”

The Ancient One nodded and placed a hand over his momentarily. “There is little I can do about its intrusive nature however regarding the memories and the nightmares I am sure will come with them, have you considered meditation?”

Tony scrunched his nose. “I’m not really good at sitting still and thinking about nothing.”

The Ancient One chuckled. “Not all meditation is thinking about nothing. The form I am thinking of is about calming your mind and allowing your thoughts to proceed through in an orderly fashion, enabling you to examine them and either set them aside for later or to work through them.”

“There’s logic in meditation?” Tony said with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes,” Stephen replied. “Do you really think I was any better than you at accepting the more… metaphysical side of magic?” He exchanged amused glances with the Ancient One. “They sort of had to beat me over the head with it a bit.”

“A lot,” the Ancient one added drolly. “He really was most stubborn until I learned to explain things in more scientific terms.” She settled more comfortably in her seat, looking oddly at home in the high tech workshop despite her saffron robes. “There is order in what we do. Rules and logic and meaning and purpose. There is cause and effect. If a rule is broken, then there are consequences.”

Tony nodded slowly. “Like the fact you should be dead?”

“Yes,” the Ancient One said. “For some reason, whether it comes from Death herself or the Time Stone, it has been deemed that I should live this time round. And yet, nothing can change the fact that I should be dead. I am living on borrowed time and I can feel that deep in my bones. My rest is… not peaceful but I can and will bear it. I can only assume there is a purpose in my survival beyond having more time to prepare Stephen for his role as Sorcerer Supreme once I am gone.”

“Then… it’s certain?” Stephen said, looking both concerned and a little sad.

The Ancient One nodded. “It is. Your affinity with the Eye of Agamotto is unprecedented. It has chosen to work with you in ways that have not been seen since Agamotto himself. It accepted me, it adores you.” Stephen looked rather nonplussed and the Ancient One chuckled and continued. “I knew the one who was to succeed me would come to us in an unusual way and would surpass me in all the ways that matter. Last time, you weren’t ready for the role but… so often we are not. Perhaps that had some bearing on all that happened afterwards, perhaps it did not. We cannot tell but I am glad to have this opportunity to guide you further… and see to other matters as well.”

She clapped her hands as though to dispel the mood that had descended on them all. “But back to the matter at hand. I think you will find the kind of meditation I have in mind useful, Tony.”

Tony sighed and shrugged. “I might as well give it a try. If it works, it works. If it doesn’t, well, I can’t say I didn’t try.”

“That’s the spirit,” the Ancient One said dryly. “Now, I should return to Kamar-Taj for the moment. Let us know when the reactor housing is ready for Wong and I to do our part and I will return tomorrow to begin your training.”

They said their goodbyes and the Ancient One portalled back to Kamar-Taj. Tony sat back down at the bench and Stephen joined him.

“This meditation really works?” Tony asked.

Stephen nodded. “I wasn’t convinced either but if you go into it and take it seriously, it can be very helpful. It feels…” He paused thoughtfully. “It feels like time slows down and allows you to sort through the thousand thoughts going through your mind in an orderly fashion.”

Tony’s gaze sharpened and he was reminded once again that Stephen was considered to be a genius in his own field back when he’d been just a surgeon. One could easily argue that he was a genius in two fields now. What’s more, he’d been a scientist first and that meant that Tony felt like he could trust his opinion.

He nodded slowly. “Alright. I’ll give it a try.”

“Do or do not, there is no try,” Stephen intoned soberly.

Tony stared at him for a long moment before collapsing into the giggles. “I can’t believe you just Yoda’d me,” he said, waggling a finger at Stephen.

The sorcerer chuckled in response. “I’m not often given such an excellent opening.”

“Right, that’s it,” Tony said, jumping to his feet and grabbing Stephen’s wrist carefully. “Star Wars marathon. Now.”

“Tony,” Stephen began, though he wasn’t exactly fighting too much as he allowed himself to be towed along.

“Nope,” Tony replied. “I just died and had a metaphysical discussion with the Ancient One. I want trashy movies and popcorn.”

Stephen considered that as the lift doors closed behind them. “Fair enough.”


End file.
